A PORTRAIT OF MUHAMMAD SHAH QAJAR BY MUHAMMAD HASAN AFSHAR, DATED 1251 AH/1835 AD

Gouache color heightenend with gold on paper, depicting the Shah with head slightly turned, wearing a olive green robe with red collar, his turban with an elaborate diamond-set sarpech, the robe with diamond bazubands on the arms, the red background with nastaliq inscriptions. The margin with polychrome floral motifs on a gold ground. Inscriptions: al-Sultan ibn Sultan, al-Sultan Muhammad Shah Qajar, to the lower left: Made by the most humble, Muhammad Hasan Afshar, in 1251 AH/1835 AD

CATALOGUE NOTE
Muhammad Hasan Afshar Urumieh enjoyed an unusually long career and was active as court painter during the reigns of Fath 'Ali Shah, Muhammad Shah and Nasir al-Din Shah. As well as being well-known as a painter of large formal court portraits, he was a gifted calligrapher, illuminator and lacquer painter (Diba, L. et.al: Royal Persian Paintings, The Qajar Epoch, New York, 1999, pp. 225-227).