A monumental photograph of Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar (reg. 1896-1907) enlarged by the Court photographer Mirza Ibrahim Khan

Persia, dated AH 1323/AD 1905

Footnotes

Provenance
Private UK Collection

Inscriptions: Hasb al-amr-e mobarak-e a'la-hazrat-e homayuni ruhana fadahu dar 'akkas-khaneh-ye mobarakeh agrandisman shod gholam-e khanazad Ibrahim ibn sani' al-saltanah 1323, 'By the order of the blessed, His Majesty [Muzaffar al-Din Shah], the monarch – may our soul be sacrificed for him - that was enlarged in the Royal Photography studio,' signed: 'The servant at court, Ibrahim ibn Sani' al-Saltanah, 1323 (1905-06)'.

Mirza Ibrahim Khan (1874-1915) was the official Court photographer of Muzaffar al-Din Shah, following in the footsteps of his father, Akbar Sani' al-Saltanah, who had been the court photographer of Nasr al-Din Shah. He studied photography whilst in Paris with his father and was given the title 'akkas-bashi or Chief Photographer in 1898. He also became a film maker and changed his name to Musavver Rahmani under Muhammad 'Ali Shah. It is likely that the original photograph was taken by Walery on the Shah's visit to Europe circa 1900 and was enlarged later from the glass plate negatives in Persia by Mirza Ibrahim Khan. For a photograph by Walery of the Shah in the same outfit, and presumably taken during the same sitting see Jennifer Y. Chi (ed.), The Eye of the Shah, Qajar Court Photography and the Persian Past, p. 30, no. 49.


Royal Portraiture in the Modern Age: The Photographic Portraits of Nasir al-Din and Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar
By Mira Schwerda

Since the beginnings of the Qajar dynasty royal portraiture communicated the ruler's self-image to audiences near and far. Culminating in the period of Fath-'Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834) life-size painted portraits of the king with his long, tapering beard and slim waist, adorned in jewels and armed with daggers, were sent to foreign courts. During the reign of his son Muhammad Shah (r. 1834-1848) the recipients of these painted gifts reciprocated by sending a technological innovation to the Persian court that made a different type of portraiture possible: the Daguerreotype camera. The cameras sent by the British and the Russian courts were first operated by an ambitious Frenchman named Jules Richard, who photographed the young crown prince Nasir al-Din Mirza and his sister 'Ezzat al-Dowleh on December 15th, 1844 in Tabriz. Fourteen years later a different Frenchman, Frances Carlhian, became Nasir al-Din's personal photography instructor. Soon a darkroom with the suitable equipment for the newest photography technology, the wet collodion process, was set up for the king, the position of court photographer was established, and the subject of photography was introduced in Persia's first polytechnical college, the Dar al-Fonun. Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-1896) enthusiastically embraced photographic portraiture before and behind the lens, visually documenting his family and court, while also being documented himself by a number of foreign and Persian photographers. On his travels outside Persia, Nasir al-Din Shah would seek out famous photographers, including Nadar, W. & D. Downey, A.J. Melhuish, Herbert Rose Barraud, and 'Abdollah Frères and have his likeness taken repeatedly. The Shah's delight in being portrayed is apparent in the image produced by Count Stanislaw Julian Ostorog, known as Walery, on the king's third and final trip to Europe in 1889. On many of his official photographic portraits his facial expression is regal and serious, yet here he cannot suppress a joyful smile. Photographic cards based on portraits like this one, known as cartes-de-visite or cabinet cards depending on the size, were exchanged or given away as souvenirs. Yet they also became the currency of Victorian celebrity culture, eagerly collected by those who did not have the good fortune of personally knowing those depicted.

After having waited to be crowned king for nearly half a century, Muzaffar al-Din Shah left Tabriz, the crown prince's place of residence, for the capital Tehran in 1896, after his father had been assassinated. Despite his shy demeanor in the early photograph, Muzaffar al-Din had also been infected with his father's passion for photography. Tabriz, the place where the first daguerreotypes in Persia had been taken and which had also been instrumental for the introduction of the printing press to Persia, had attracted a number of professional photographers. It was here that Antoin Sevruguin and his brothers would establish their first studio, for example. During his long years as crown prince Muzaffar al-Din had his portrait taken in different poses and places, with changing accessories and dress. The photographs speak to his own creativity and playfulness, but also to a certain nonchalance or ease that his father lacked. One example illustrating his long-standing passion for photography is the composite birthday portrait created at the very beginning of his reign. The collage consists of nine different portraits depicting Muzaffar al-Din both as crown prince and as monarch. The inscription explains that the portraits "were taken during the celebrations of his happy and blessed birthdays." We have evidence for elaborate celebrations of the birthdays of Qajar rulers from the time of Fath 'Ali Shah onward, for whom his favorite daughter Ziāʾ-al-Salṭana organized the festivities. Nasir al-Din Shah introduced the modern tradition of photographically capturing royal birthdays and anniversaries of rule. The composite birthday portrait presented to Muzaffar al-Din Shah in 1897 paid attention to global photographic trends as re-photographed collages of single photographs had become extremely fashionable. It was also evidence of his close relationship with Mirza Ibrahim Khan Ṣanīʿ-al-salṭana, his court photographer, on whom he did not only confer the title ʿakkās-bāshī ([chief] photographer) in the same year, but also offered the hand of his wife's sister, Zīvar-al-solṭān Ṭaḷʿat-al-salṭana, in marriage. The king's photographer thereby literally became family. Mirza Ibrahim Khan (1874-1915) was the son of Mīrzā Aḥmad Ṣanīʿ-al-salṭana (b. 1264/1848), who had become Nasir al-Din Shah's court photographer after having studying photography and engraving in Europe for seven years. The fourteen year-old Mirza Ibrahim met his father in Europe, where he participated in his studies, and after his return to Persia he joined the court of the crown prince in Tabriz. He and Muzaffar al-Din had therefore known each other for many years when the latter became king. This familiarity, but also their mutual respect, is evident in the portraiture. In a large photograph taken by Ibrahim Mirza in 1901, Muzaffar al-Din Shah is depicted in a garden, seated next to a globe and a bouquet of chrysanthemums. The king is dressed in a bright, summery suit. Instead of medals, two flowers, an artificial one and a real chrysanthemum, are attached to his chest. He has taken off his white gloves and looks straight at the camera with a calm gaze. While his lambskin hat with the lion-and-sun symbol and the photograph's calligraphic inscription still attest to his royalty, the portrait nevertheless shows the monarch in a more private setting and attests to the difference of his personality and circumstances of life compared to his father and grandfather. The globe, which is inscribed in French, recalls both Muzaffar al-Din's own interest in travel as well as his diplomatic exchanges with foreign governments and royalty.

In 1900, 1903, and 1905 the king went on three trips to Europe and he took his photographer Mirza Ibrahim with him. Unlike his father's trips, Muzaffar al-Din's trips were built around long stays in spa towns like Contrexéville in Belgium or Carlsbad in Austria due to his poor health. Yet he nevertheless had ample time to inform himself about the newest technological developments, including the discovery of early cinematography, which the king described with interest in his travel diary. This resulted in Mirza Ibrahim training as a cameraman and film projector on their first mutual European trip, while also documenting the travels photographically. On the king's second trip to Europe, Mirza Ibrahim again made sure to visually document the events and the two published travelogues of Muzaffar al-Din Shah, which have until today not been translated to English, were illustrated with these photographs. However, Mirza Ibrahim also found time to study new developments in printing on that trip and purchased the necessary equipment to establish his own printing company after his return to Europe. His interest in technological developments is also apparent in two other portraits of Muzaffar al-Din Shah: The first portrait shows Muzaffar al-Din Shah in uniform, his chest sparkling with diamonds. He is standing in a photo studio, with his arm leaning on a silk-covered chair. The beautifully calligraphed inscription tells us that the photograph was taken by Mirza Ibrahim to document the celebration of Nowruz in March 1898, yet an additional, much smaller inscription, potentially in the hand of the photographer, states that he reprinted the image in the spring of 1901 after enlarging it fourteen times. Printing such a large image was no mean feat and it also attests to the careful archiving and reusing of the photographs in the palace. Today over one thousand photo albums and more than forty thousand photographs are kept in the photographic archives of the Golestan palace demonstrating both the Qajar passion for photography and the interest in keeping a record for future generations. The second even larger portrait, which has the dimensions 119 x 85 cm, confirms that Mirza Ibrahim successfully mastered the difficult technical skill, to which he refers in the portrait's Persian inscription by using the French name for enlargement, agrandissement. The monumental portrait depicts a seated Muzaffar al-Din looking straight at the viewer. The ruler is dressed in a western suit, a flower is attached to his lapel. His arms are resting on a cane. No diamonds are attached to his chest, the lambskin hat bears no embellishments. This life-size portrait might be similar to his progenitor's portraits in size, yet it could not be more different otherwise. The king's choice of clothing signifies the increased contact with Europe and the cane, which has filled the place usually taken by swords and daggers in his forefather's pictures, points to his failing health. The stunning and somewhat melancholic portrait was taken at the end of 1905, at a time of revolutionary turmoil. Less than a year later Muzaffar al-Din Shah would sign the constitution on his deathbed and usher in a new era.