Add Or 1239-1242

Add.Or.1239-1242

Watercolour drawings on Whatman paper, varnished and watermarked 1816.

Reduced copies of the great mural by ‘Abdallah Khan formerly in the Nigaristan Palace, Tehran, showing Fath ‘Ali Shah enthroned in his court with his sons, and surrounded by his courtiers, guards, and English and French envoys. Early nineteenth century.

The original mural painting in the Nigaristan palace was executed by the court painter ‘Abdallah Khan in 1812-13, and was noticed and described by most European travellers to Persia in the nineteenth century. See especially Dieulafoy, ‘La Perse, la Chaldée, et la Susiane’ (Paris 1881) p.126; Curzon, ‘Persia and the Persian’ ‘Question’ (London 1892) p.338, where the painting is wrongly ascribed to Muhammad Hasan Khan; and Browne, ‘A year amongst the Persians’ (London, new edn., 1926) p.105. The painting no longer exists, but a full-sized copy, made about seventy years ago, is said to be in the Foreign Office, Tehran. A few reproductions from this will be found in 'Qasr wa Bagh i Nigaristan' by Ahmad Suhayli Khwansari (‘Honar va Mardom’ No. 144, 31-37). There also exists a coloured lithograph, printed and published by Robert Havell in 1834, from another version in the possession of Thos. Alcock of Kingswood.

(Elphinstone Collection, MSS Eur F87-89. Presented March 1957.)