English: PORTRAIT OF BAHMAN MIRZA

SIGNED AHMAD, TEHRAN, QAJAR IRAN, AH 1251/1835-36 AD

Watercolour on paper, signed lower left, identified upper left, laid down inside oval lacquer mirror frame, framed and glazed Painting 6 x 8 3/8in. (14.8 x 10.9cm.)

Bahman Mirza (1810-1884), of whom this portrait is painted, was the fourth son of 'Abbas Mirza and the younger brother of Muhammad Shah. He served as both Viceregent of Azerbaijan and Governor-General of Tabriz – later migrating to Russia. He was known to be a patron of the arts (Bamdad, 1966, pp.195-98) - a painting of Muhammad Shah commissioned by him was offered in Christie’s, London, 10 October 2013, lot 104.

Karimzadeh-Tabrizi mentions two painters called Ahmad, both active at the same time, but it is very possible that they are in fact the same individual. In the first instance this is Ahmad the watercolourist, said to be a portraitist who amongst other things had painted portraits of both Fath 'Ali Shah and Muhammad Shah (Karimzadeh-Tabrizi, 1990, vol. I, no.83, pp.52-53). The second entry, appearing immediately after, mentions Ahmad the painter in oils, also said to be active over the same period (Karimzadeh-Tabrizi, 1990, no.84, p.53).The latter (active 1819-44) was among the foremost painters during the second and third decade of the reign of Fath 'Ali Shah and that of Muhammad Shah. He has been described in The Cambridge History of Iran, which says of him "Among the second generation of court painters active towards the end of Fath 'Ali Shah's reign and during that of his grandson and successor Muhammad Shah, the best was probably Ahmad, who, to judge from his early style, may well have been a pupil of Mihr 'Ali" (Cambridge, 1991, Vol. 7, p.879).

Our painting would have decorated the interior of a lacquer mirror case. Unlike most Qajar lacquer mirror cases, where the interior is also lacquered, our painting would most probably have been glazed, and then had a hinged mirror facing it (now lacking). Another mirror case with a similarly glazed painting on the interior is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. 504-1874). That is slightly later (circa 1850-75) and the painting depicts the Imam ‘Ali.