Era: Qajar Period, Persia.
Date: 19th Century
Materials and Techniques: Ink heightened with gold on paper
Size: 25.4 x 21.2 cm.
Artist: Signed by Muhammad Hassan Afshar
Source: [1]
نگاره سیاه و سفید ناصرالدین شاه - حراجی ساتبی
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. This painting is depicting Nasr Al-Din Shah in a military uniform wearing a tall hat with large-plumed ornament, the brooch on his breast appears to be incomplete, inscriptions above and below written in Naskh script in black ink within cloudbands against a gold ground, inner border of gold scrolls, laid down on a blue album page with margins decorated with leafy scrolling vegetation in gold.According to Answers.com, Muhammad Hassan Afshar was a noted court painter under the Qajar rulers Muhammad Shah (ruled 1834-48) and Nasir al-Din (ruled 1848-96) of Persia. Muhammad Hasan Afshar was awarded the title Painter Laureate (Naqqash Bashi). A portrait dated 1847 in the Churchill Album (London, BL, Or. MS. 4938) depicts Muhammad Shah seated in a red tunic with blue sash and flashing diamonds. The artist's most remarkable works are three life-size oil portraits of Nasir al-Din (Tehran, Gulistan Pal.; Tehran, Moghaddam priv. col. (see Robinson, 1991, fig. 30a); and Isfahan, Chihil Sutun Palace, dated 1860). The artist also painted small varnished objects, such as a pen box dated 1846 (priv. col., see Robinson, 1989, fig. 16a), which has a scene of the Last Judgement on the top and a Napoleonic battle scene on one side. The pen box was only finished in 1861 by Ismai'il Jalayir, who added a scene of the Qajar monarch Muhammad Shah in battle on the other side and a design and inscription on the base.
