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A PORTRAIT OF HUSAYN 'ALI KHAN MO'AYYER OL-MAMALEK? Qajar Iran,?Studio of Abol-Hassan Ghaffari Sani' Ol-Molk,?terminus post quem 1854 Opaque pigmens on cream paper, the bearded nobleman standing in an interior on a diagonally-designed summer carpet, wearing a tall black Astrakhan kaj-kolah and a red Kerman termeh?coat, in white stockings, presenting the first volume of the One Thousand and One Nights manuscript to Nasser ed-Din Shah, the gem-set hilt and large pearl tassel of his dagger visible, within sepia rulings, cream leaf, inscribed on middle left in semi-transparent watercolour in nasta'liq script 'Raqam Abol-Hassan Ghaffari Kashani', framed and glazed,?26cm x 16cm, 48cm x 39.5cm including the frame.? Provenance: Purchased at Accademia Fine Art, Monaco, 10 May 2015, lot 276; ? ? ?Offered at Millon, Paris, 3 May 2018, lot 270. This portrait is a copy of a very well-known composition in the Mo'ayyer ol-Mamalek family collection. The original is?signed and dated?Raqam Abol-Hassan Ghaffari Naqqashbashi, saneh 1270 AH (1854), which points our example to a later date.?Both paintings act as important witnesses of the happy confluence of many events shaping 19th-century Iranian art history. Sani' Ol-Molk (1814-1866) was the son of the celebrated early 19th century painter, Mirza Mohammad Ghaffari, and a pupil of the court painter, Mehr Ali Isfahani.??His first king, Mohammad Shah, had already sat for him by the time Sani' Ol Molk?was 29. Later he was yet more fortunate to find the support and the means to travel to Italy to study and copy the Renaissance masters at a time most of his countrymen did not travel beyond their province of birth. Sani' Ol-Molk, the father of modern Iranian painting, returned to Iran in 1850. He used his cache of painting materials, colour prints and etchings of the works of European masters as teaching material in his newly founded painting academy. His new approach and newly-mastered techniques introduced all aspects and genres of European painting to an eager audience, prefiguring Nasser ed-Din Shah's embrace of?Farang. The main character of the composition is here holding in his hands a copy of?The Arabian Nights?manuscript. This was translated into Persian in 1843. In 1848, the young Nasser ed-Din Shah commissioned an illuminated manuscript of the text with royal patronage - and no expense spared - to elevate the status of modern painting and to spearhead a new era of openness. The work was carried out under the supervision of the subject of this portrait, Hossein-Ali Khan, Mo'ayyer ol-Mamalek (d. 1858), with Sani' Ol-Molk as artistic director. The resultant six volumes at the Golestan Palace Library took forty-two artists and seven years to complete. With their unparalleled?charm and innovation, the tomes are often discussed as the bridge between the old and the new in Iranian art, as well as society. The present painting is a fitting tribute by the master-painter in charge of this great project, of the works' supervisor, to the commissioning king. Using European devices, Sani' ol-Molk places the viewer in place of the king, and the head and headdress of the subject within the architectural frame the wall decoration provides. For a thorough discussion, please see?Yahya Zoka,?Life and Works of Sani' Ol-Molk 1814-1866,?Tehran, 2003, p.134.?Another similar example of this composition was successfully sold at Christie's London, 17 April 2007, lot 276.Notes: Islamic & Indian Art