A QAJAR LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PANEL WITH FATH' ALI SHAH HUNTING
Iran, 19th century

Of rectangular shape, the horizontal composition painted and lacquered in warm polychromes with a centrally-positioned riding Fath' Ali Shah Qajar hunting a stag with a lance and hounds in a verdant landscape, the king and steed portrayed in full ceremonial regalia following the same standards of Qajar royal portraits, the attendants represented in smaller scale to the left conveying a difference in status and distance, the border featuring scrolling flowers in gold and brown tones, mounted, framed and glazed, 26cm x 40.5 cm (visible), 42cm x 56.5cm including the frame.

For an interesting discussion on Fath' Ali Shah's lacquer and pictorial portraits, please see Khalili, Robinson, and Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands: Part 1, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, 1996, pp. 160 - 161. According to these scholars, this ruler's portraits as a handsome, virile, fertile, male sovereign were not only forms of mere vanity: they served deeply-rooted raison d'état. In both life and art, Fath' Ali Shah's conduct and appearance were part of a conscious program of political propaganda, purposefully selecting him as a man fit to wield absolute power in Iran. A very similar composition to ours, though smaller, can be admired in a book cover part of the Khalili collection (ibidem, p. 165, fig. 121).