A collection of 23 manuscript documents and 32 photographs consisting of correspondence and documentation from the archive of the French Consulate at Tabriz, Persia, relating to French-Persian relations, archaeological surveys and their logistics, and the border regions of Azerbaijan and Dagestan

Persia, Dagestan, Georgia, Ottoman Empire, and France, 1891-1903

Footnotes

Provenance
Pierre-Abel Bergeron (1855-circa 1925), Consul-General at Tabriz, 1897-1906, and thence by descent.
Purchased from Jean Philippe Geley, Librairie Oriens, Paris, 1992.
Private collection, London, 1992-present.


The thirty-two photographs were taken in various locations, mostly by members of the French Archaeological Mission to Persia and inscribed by them, and most photographs of Persian dignitaries with inscriptions in French or Persian.
Both the letters and photographs depict this region where three great powers met - the Russian Empire, Qajar Persia (and its backers), and the Ottoman Empire. We see Tsarist officers in their white summer tunics, the rugged landscape, including Ghunib natural fortress, where during the Caucasian wars of the 19th Century Imam Shamil made his last stand against the Russians; Prince Baryalinski, military governor of Dagestan, and his entourage watching a Lezginka dance performance; Armenian dancers and armed men and women – all scenes which seem to have come from the stories (and lives) of Pushkin and Lermontov.

The material in the collection highlights the dealings of the French Consul at Tabriz, Pierre-Abel Bergeron, firstly with local Persian dignitaries including Amir Nezam Garrusi Hassan Ali Khan, chief steward of the Crown Prince, Governor of Azarbaijan, and prior resident minister plenipotentiary to the courts of Europe and Constantinople 1859-1871; Mohammad Hassan Mirza Heshmat al Saltaneh, the Governor of Urumieh and great grandson of Fathali Shah; and Faramarz Khan Licingoff, a warlord from the Urumieh district and half-brother of Nazare Agha, the Persian ambassador to France between 1873 and 1905. He also corresponds with key members of the French Archaeological Mission to Persia (which had obtained the monopoly of excavations throughout Persia for sixty years from Muzaffar al-Din Shah), including Jacques Jean Marie de Morgan, director of the mission; Georges Lampre, operations manager of the mission; and Louis-Charles Émile Watelin, assistant field director of the mission. The dealings of the French legation with the French archaeological team were not limited to matters related to archaeological excavations in both south and north Persia but also included intelligence gathering. De Morgan and some of his entourage were asked to re-route their return trip to France at the end of the 1901 excavation season via Dagestan and Georgia and the Black Sea in order to survey the road the Russians were constructing in order to have a strategic link between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea (from north Azarbaijan, through Dagestan and Georgia), for military transport and the shipment of oil from Russian Azarbaijan to the Black Sea for further transport to Europe. The collection includes 19 photographs with detailed inscriptions taken in this region.

Pierre Abel Bergeron (1855-circa 1925) came from Paris and belonged to a family that had their careers in the French diplomatic service for close to a century. He joined the Ministry of Foreign affairs in 1875 and was promoted to the level of section head in 1883. His first posting was in 1888 as Vice Consul to Bourges (Bulgaria), then with the same rank to Erzerum in 1891, where he was promoted to Consul General in 1893. His posting at Erzerum, which coincided with the massacre of the Armenians by the Ottomans, led to his life-long involvement in trying the help the persecuted Armenian community. His services to the Armenian community and his initiatives for promoting French industry within the Ottoman Empire were acknowledged by Marcelin Berthelot, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for which he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1899. In 1897 he was appointed Consul General at Tabriz, a position he held until 1906 during the Persian Constitutional Revolution. He was then posted to Tbilisi in Georgia which was in the middle of the Russian Revolution of 1905. He remained in Tbilisi until 1916 when he retired from the French diplomatic service. After his retirement he was made Officier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1921.
Jacques Jean Marie de Morgan (1857-1924). He showed such aptitude in archaeology during his time at the École des Mines in 1882 that he was sent on excavations in northern Europe. After the publication of the results of De Morgan's archaeological findings, the French minister of public education sent him on two excavation missions to India and Malaysia. Benefiting from his mining knowledge, De Morgan travelled, at his own expense, to the Caucasus, where he spent two years excavating and conducting research in other scientific fields, including ethnology. The publication of these research works prompted the French Minister of Public Education to adjoin him to his ministry. Thanks to this position, and the support of two eminent figures of the time, the archaeologist Gaston Maspero and the anthropologist Ernest-Théodore Hamy, his first mission to Persia was organized by that ministry. His first mission in Persia, aimed at identifying the country's archaeological sites and surveying its geographical and geological situation, began in 1889. After returning from Persia in 1891, De Morgan was appointed in early 1892 director of a six-year mission of exploration for antiquities in Egypt. In 1897 he returned to Persia as the representative of the director of the French archaeological mission in this country. It was during this trip that, on behalf of the French government, he signed the ignominious agreement granting that country the monopoly of excavations throughout Persia for a period of sixty years with the ailing and indigent Muzaffar al-Din Shah. On the basis of this concession the French excavations covered all the private and government owned lands and properties and no one was permitted to make any research in any other region in Iran without the permission of the French government. The French archaeological team many significant discoveries, some now in the Louvre. An 1908 inquiry at the French Ministry of Public Education accused him of embezzling funds allocated to archaeological exploration in Persia, with these accusation leading to his eventual retirement in 1912.
Georges Lampre (1855-1912). In 1887 he was named tutor of Yahya Khan, the son of Amir Nezam Garrusi Hasan Ali Khan, Governor of Azarbaijan, through an introduction of Mr. Cotte, the uncle of his wife and merchant for the Régie des Tabacs in Persia. He moved to Tabriz to take up his position and over a period of several years and started a school to teach French. Jacques de Morgan had already met Lampre in 1890 at Tabriz when he came through Tabriz, and when he was appointed to lead the mission at Susa employed Lampre in 1897 as Administrative Manager of the Mission, a position Lampre held until 1908. Even though he had no formal training in archaeology, Lampre took part in several excavation campaigns in Susa, from 1897 to 1907, and also co-authored several publications, including two volumes of the memoirs of the archaeological mission of Persia. He resigned from the mission in 1908 when in complicity with Louis-Charles Émile Watelin, another of De Morgan's collaborators, he began conspiring against de Morgan at the French ministry of public education by divulging that De Morgan had embezzled part of the funds allocated to archaeological exploration in Persia.
Louis-Charles Émile Watelin (1874-1934). French archaeologist. He joined the Délégation Scientifique en Perse, which was headed by Jacques de Morgan, for the excavations at Susa and participated in the excavations from 1900 to 1908. Watelin's major contribution to Near Eastern archaeology was his participation in the joint expedition of the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University and the Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago at Kish, where he was field-director from 1926 to 1933 under the general direction of Stephen Herbert Langdon, an American-born British Assyriologist.
Amir Nezam Garrusi Hassan Ali Khan (1820-1900) was born in Bijar (Persia) to a family of Kurdish Kabudvand chiefs with a long history of official service. His education, unusually broad for a man of his background, included Arabic and Persian composition, history, and calligraphy. He became one of the most important and distinguished military officers, diplomats and administrators of nineteenth century Persia. His first major position was as colonel of the Garrus regiment, which participated in Mohammad Shah's abortive Herat campaign of 1837-38. With the army diminishing in size and strength, Hassan Ali Khan sought alternative outlets to demonstrate his abilities. In the aftermath of the Anglo-Persian war of 1856-57 and the subsequent treaty of Paris, he was sent to the British minister at Baghdad to shore up the broken relations with the British. The Baghdad mission was followed by the post of resident minister plenipotentiary to the courts of Europe (1859-67) to replace Farrokh Khan Amin al Dowleh, where he served as the Persian envoy at Paris and later Constantinople. Upon his return from Constantinople, he was put in charge of the newly founded Ministry of Public Works, a position he maintained for the next decade (1872-82). An advocate of reforms and foreign investments, he played an important role both in granting and cancelling concessions to foreign countries and companies. In the 1880s and 90s, during a wave of tribal uprisings and urban dissent, Hassan Ali Khan had new prominence, assigned the task of crushing unrest. He played a major role in crushing the Kurdish uprising and succeeded in convincing Tehran to bring most of Azarbaijan and the Kurdish areas under his control, culminating in him being appointed in 1882 to the highly sensitive post of chief stewardship of the crown prince, and governorship of Azarbaijan. Two years later he received the title Amir Nezam, the second highest rank in the army; for the following nine years he remained in full control of Azarbaijan. The assassination of Nasr al-Din Shah frustrated Hassan Ali Khan's hope to become Premier or Minister of Foreign Affairs. The rivalries following the Shah's assassination eventually led to Hassan Ali Khan's resignation in 1899.
Mohammad Hassan Mirza Heshmat al Saltaneh (circa 1830-1902) was first son of Mahdi Gholi Mirza, the seventh son of Abbas Mirza, the crown prince of Persia until his untimely death in 1833. Joined the Ministry of Finance during the reign of Nasser al Din Shah where he held various positions. Was appointed Governor of Kerman by Mozaffar al Din Shah and then Governor of Urumieh, a position he held until his death. His son Mohammad Mahdi Mirza Ibetehaj Soltan also joined the Ministry of Finance and attained high ranks within that ministry.
Faramarz Khan Licingoff was son of the Russian Colonel Licingoff, who had been stationed in Persia, and a Chaldean Christian mother from Urumieh. His stepbrother from his mother's first marriage was Nazare Agha, a Lazarist scholar who later joined the diplomatic service and in 1873 was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Persia at Paris, a position he held until 1905. During his stay in Paris Nazare Agha arranged for Faramarz Khan to be educated at a French military school. Upon returning to Persia Faramarz Khan did not pursue a military career, and instead started a career in the Ministry of Finance. The ministry posted him to Urumieh, where his family were influential warlords and had substantial land holdings. He maintained his contacts with the French community in North-west Persia and became a fierce defender of the constitutionalists during the Persian constitutional revolution of 1906.

The documents are as follows:
1. Letter from Jacques de Morgan, Head of the Délégation Scientifique en Perse to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, French Consul at Tabriz, with letterhead of Ministère de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts – Délégation Scientifique en Perse, relating to travel plans from Susa to Talyche for research/excavations, from there to Europe and subsequently returning to the site at Susa via Tabriz for the 1901-1902 excavation season, 3 pages, Susa (Persia), 22nd March 1901.
2. Letter from Jacques de Morgan to Pierre-Abel Bergeron relating to logistics for arrival in Tabriz, 1 page, Yousefabad (Persia), 19th April 1901.
3. Letter from Georges Lampre, Administration Manager of the Délégation Scientifique en Perse to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, with letterhead of Ministère de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts – Délégation Scientifique en Perse, relating to travel plans to Ardebil, 3 pages, Zanjan (Persia), 8th May 1901.
4. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, 3 pages, Hajineriman (Persia), 4th July 1901, relating to results of Talyche excavations; travel plans of Mr and Mrs Henri de Morgan (brother of Jacques de Morgan) and Mrs Lampre, arriving from Caucasus.
5. Letter from Jacques de Morgan to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, 2 pages, Souah (Persia), 8th July 1901, relating to the result of the Talyche excavations and travel plans.
6. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, relating to logistical arrangements, 3 pages, Guendykhani (Persia), 24th July 1901.
7. Telegram from the French Consulate in Tabriz to Jacques de Morgan (in Persian with French translation in pencil on the same page), relating to logistical arrangements, 1 page, sent from Tabriz to Makou (Persia), 24th July 1901.
8. Letter from Jacques de Morgan to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, relating to logistical and financial arrangements, 3 pages, Agha Evlar (Persia), 31st July 1901.
9. Note from Jacques de Morgan to Meshed-Ali, relating to procurements for forthcoming travels and excavations, 2 pages, Agha Evlar (Persia), 31st July 1901.
10. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, regarding results of Ardebil and Talyche excavations, and logistical arrangements, 2 pages, Ardebil (Persia), 13th August 1901.
11. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, on medical treatment of staff, 1 page, Nemetabad (Persia), 20th August 1901.
12. Telegram from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Tehran to the Governor of Azerbaijan, regarding honours to be awarded to members of the French archaeological mission by the Persian authorities, 2 leaves (telegram in Persian, with handwritten French translation), with Qajar Lion and Sun printed heading in margins, sent from Tehran to Tabriz, 11th September 1901.
13. Letter from Jacques de Morgan to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, concerning conflict and turmoil in Northwest Persia, 5 pages, Makou, 18th September 1901.
14. Note from Jacques de Morgan to Meshed-Ali plus additional note to Pierre-Abel Bergeron on how to instruct Meshed-Ali, on Ministère de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts, Délégation Scientifique en Perse letterhead, on the sale of surplus materials and provisions at end of excavations, 3 pages, Makou (Persia), 18th September 1901.
15. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, regarding social unrest in Northwest Persia, and activities of local power brokers, 14 pages, Makou (Persia), 18th September 1901.
16. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, on dealings with Russians, 7 pages, Erivan (Russia, present day Yerevan in Armenia), 2nd October 1901.
17. Letter from Jean Glavany (partner of a French trading company in Tabriz who had extensive dealings with the Délégation Scientifique en Perse) to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, on shipments to France, 6 pages, Khoy (Persia), 7th November 1901.
18. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, about a planned archaeological exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris, 3 pages, Paris, 8th December 1901 (on black-edged mourning paper, as a result of the death of Lampre's mother).
19. Letter from Louis-Charles Émile Watelin to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, on Watelin's special stationery with the address of the French Consulate in Baghdad, c/o Vice Consul M.G. Rouet through whom all correspondence to Watelin at Susa is to be directed, discussing travel plans, 2 pages, Susa (Persia), 11th December 1901.
20. Letter from Jacques de Morgan to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, relating to the purchase of property for the French consulate at Tabriz, 2 pages, Paris, 27th December 1901.
21. Letter of agreement in Persian between the caravan trader Khan Baba, son of Khodayar, and Meshed Ali for the delivery of 10 horses and 35 mules, which Meshed Ali has sold, from Tabriz to Kermanshah, 1 page, in Persian and French, Tabriz (Persia), AH 1320.../8th May 1902. MB
22. Letter from Georges Lampre to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, re a collaboration request for Italian scholars, 4 pages, Tehran, 21st October 1903.
23. Letter from Jacques de Morgan to Pierre-Abel Bergeron, re concerns about the recent social upheavals which have made travel very hazardous, the arrival of the new French ambassador, worries about the disturbances in the north of Persia and the rivalry of the Russian and British in the country, 4 pages, Isfahan, 14th November 1903.

The photographs are as follows:
24. Jacques Jean Marie de Morgan, with inscription in French made at Tabriz dated 3 September 1901 addressed to Pierre-Abel Bergeron; photographer: P. Bonnamy, Paris, 1901 or earlier.
25. Prince Baryalinski, military governor of Dagestan, and his entourage inspecting the construction of the Azarbaijan-Georgia road intended to connect the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
Prince Baryalinski, military governor of Dagestan, and his entourage watching a Lezginka dance performance with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
26. Prince Baryalinski, military governor of Dagestan, inspecting the construction of the Azarbaijan-Georgia road with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
Prince Baryalinski, military governor of Dagestan, and his entourage watching a Lezginka dance performance with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
27. Village along the Azarbaijan-Georgia road with detailed inscription in French on verso, photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
Farm along the Azarbaijan-Georgia road with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
28. Lezgin festivities with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
Lezgin festivities with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
29. Lezgin construction workers on the Azarbaijan-Georgia road with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
Ghunib natural fortress where during the Caucasian wars of the 19th century Imam Shamil made his last stand against the Russians with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
30. Tents of Lezgin construction workers on the Azarbaijan-Georgia road with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
Ghunib mountain with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
31. Bridge of Khadzhalmakhi with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
View of the Azarbaijan-Georgia road with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
32. Engineer mapping out the direction of the Azarbaijan-Georgia road with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
Samur river with detailed inscription in French on verso; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: Dagestan – 1901.
33. Camp of De Morgan's at Talyche; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: North Persia – 1901.
Camp of De Morgan's at Talyche; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: North Persia – 1901.
34. Armenian dance; photographer: De Morgan or a member of his entourage; place and date: North Persia – 1901.
Ejmiatsin Cathedral, the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church with signature of Faramarz Khan Licingoff (a prominent landowner in Urumieh) on the verso; photographer: Unknown; place and date: Vagharshapat (Armenia) – ca.1890s.
35. Faramarz Khan Licingoff surrounded by the armed militia of his village near Urumieh, with signed inscription by Licingoff in French verso addressed to Bergeron, photographer, E. John, Urumieh district (Persia), 1898 (date of inscription).
Armed Kurdish woman with signed inscription by Mrs Licingoff in French on verso addressed to Mrs. Bergeron; photographer: E. John; place and date: Urumieh district (Persia) – 1898 (date of inscription).
36. Studio photograph of man with two women, probably given by Licingoff to Bergeron; photographer: E. John; place and date: Urumieh district (Persia) – ca.1890s.
Studio photograph of a woman, probably given by Licingoff to Bergeron; photographer: E. John; place and date: Urumieh district (Persia) – ca.1890s.
37. Amir Nezam Garrusi Hasan Ali Khan, Governor of Azerbaijan; photographer: Unknown; place and date: Probably Tabriz – ca.1898.
Amir Nezam Garussi Hasan Ali Khan, Governor of Azerbaijan, with inscription in Persian by the sitter at the bottom referring to Bergeron; photographer: Unknown; place and date: Tabriz – 15 August 1898 (date of inscription).
'A friendly momento to the one of high station, excelling in splendour, the gracious friend, the honoured Monsieur Bergeron the Consul of the Great Government of the Republic of France, resident in Tabriz, from Hasan 'Ali Khan Amir Nezam and dated 16 Rabi' II (?) 1317 (?) (23 August 1899). The date is not clear and Bergeron the French Consul in Tabriz not identified.
38. Mirza Gholam-Ali Khan Sa'd os-Soltan, Persian Consul at Erzerum, with inscription in Persian by the sitter on verso addressed to Bergeron; photographer: Unknown; place and date: Erzerum (Ottoman Turkey) – 20 September 1895 (date of inscription).
'On 7 of the month of Jumadi II, 1319 (19 September 1901), while Governor of Ardabil, (presented this photograph) as a momento, to my respectable son Muhammad Mahdi Mirza'.
It is signed: 'Muhammad Hasan Mu'tazid al-Dawlah'.
Muhammad Hasan Mirza Mu'tazid al-dawlah was a son of Mahdi Quli Mirza and a grandson of 'Abbas Mirza. He received his title Mu'tazid al-Dawlah in 1310 (1892-3). His earlier posts were Governor of Baluchestan, Kerman, Bam and Narmashir, later Governor of Ardabil, the post he kept till his death in the year 1319 (1901-02). He had a few children including Muhammad Mahdi, to whom this photograph was given.
Mohammad Hassan Mirza Heshmat al Saltaneh, Governor of Urumieh with inscription in Persian by the sitter referring to the French consul; photographer: Unknown; place and date: Urumieh – 21 September 1901.
39. Chinikaheh (storage area of the blue and white Yuan porcelain collection) at the shrine of Sheikh Safi al Din at Ardebil, with the chief attendant and some of his assistants, with a descriptive inscription in Persian below the image and Bergeron's signature on verso; photographer: unknown, place and date: Ardebil (Persia) – ca.1901.
The chini-khaneh (The House of Porcelain) of the tomb of Shaykh Safi al-Din- Mercy (of God) be upon him- and the Chief of Servants (khadem-bashi) and a few other servants.'
Tomb of Sheikh Safi al Din at the Shrine at Ardebil with the chief attendant and two of his assistants, with a descriptive inscription in Persian below the image and Bergeron's signature on verso; photographer: unknown; place and date: Ardebil (Persia) – ca.1901.
'The photograph of the sepulchre of Shaykh Safi al-Din - mercy (of God) be upon him- that is inlaid (misspelt) and the door of the sepulchre in gold'.
40. Emin and Soleiman, two Georgian men; photographer: unknown; place and date: Batum (Georgia) – 1891 (printed 1889).