19th century (1850s), Qajar Period, Iran
Materials and technique: Gouache and gold
Size: 32.5 x 20.6 cm
Kept in State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Source: [1]
نقاشی ناصرالدین شاه قاجار- موزه آرمیتاژ - روسیه
Even though the European painting styles were already in practice at the time, this painting seems to be more like a miniture painting. It is possibly created in the early years of Nasir Al Din Shah's reign. The king is pictured sitting on a Louis XVI sofa. Such sofas were perhaps introduced in Iran as Napoleon Bonaparte sent a group of French military officers headed by Claude Matthieu, Count Gardane [2], to train the Iranian soldiers against the Russians. To this day, Louis XVI sofa are popular in Iran. The king's clothing is a blend of European and Persian styles. The painter's name is Muhammad Isfahani.According to Wikipedia, Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar (July 16, 1831 – May 1, 1896) was the King of Iran from September 17, 1848 to May 1, 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek Jahan Khanom, Mahd-e Olia, and the third longest reigning monarch in Iranian history after Shapur II of the Sassanid Dynasty and Tahmasp I of the Safavid Dynasty. He had sovereign power for close to 50 years and was also the first Persian monarch to ever write and publish his diaries. He is also the first Persian king to leave his country in order to travel to modern Europe. He was a poet and a patron of arts, and many gifted artists lived in his period.
To learn more about Franco-Persian alliance during Napoleonic period read this: [3]
