Mizra Abdul Hassan Khan, The Persian Ambassador

Drawing
Place of Origin: London, England.
Era: Qajar Period.
Date: 1819.
Artist: Maxim Gauci.
Material and Technique: Watercolor over pencil.
Kept in Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
Source: [1]

Portrait of Mirza Abu'l Hassan Khan

Painting
oil on canvas
size: 56¾ x 45¼ in. (144.2 x 137.8 cm.)
Artist: Sir William Beechey, R.A. (1753-1839)
Sold at Christie's auction
Source: [1]

Portrait of Mirza Abu'l Hassan Khan, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of King George III, kneeling in a red cloak with a blue lining, and a white and red embroidered floral turban, holding a Koran in his right hand.

Mirza Abul Hassan Khan Ambassador Extraordinary to England

Lithograph
Place of origin: London, England.
Era: Qajar Period.
Date: 19th Century (1819).
Materials and technique: Lithograph, colored by hand.
Size: 37 x 26.9.
Artist: Maxim Gauci.
Kept in Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
Sources: [1], [2].

This lithograph which is colored by hand is entitled 'His Excellency Mirza Abul Hassan Khan Ambassador Extraordinary'. Lettered with title and 'from his Majesty the Shah of Persia to H.R.H. the Prince Regent of Great Britain. To His Excellency Sir Gore Ouseley Bart K.L.S. K.A.S. late Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Persia. 

Portrait of Murtaza Kuli Khan, Brother of Agha Mohammad Khan, the Persian Shah by Vladimir Borovikovsky

Painting.
Origin: Russian Empire.
Date: 1796.
Style: Rococo.
Materials and Techniques: Oil on canvas.
Size: 189.5 x 284 cm.
Kept in Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
Sources: [1],[2],[3], [4].

مرتضی قلی خان قاجار، برادر آغا محمد خان قاجار که به روسیه فرار کرد و از عوامل برانگیزاننده لشگرکشی روسیه به ایران در زمان کاترین و به سرکردگی زبوف بوده

This painting has been created by Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (Russian: Владимир Лукич Боровиковский, Ukrainian: Володимир Лукич Боровиковський July 24 O.S. 1757 - April 6 O.S. 1825) who was a Russian painter of Ukrainian origin. He dominated Russian portraiture at the turn of the 19th century. 

Erotic Persian Painting On Ivory

Painting.
Era: Possibly Qajar Dynasty, Persia.
Date: circa 1900 or earlier.
Techniques and Material: Painting on ivory.
Size: 3 1/2 X 2 3/4 inches.
Source: [1].

This painting depicts a nude bathing with attendant and onlookers/horses in the brush, circa 1900 or earlier, illegible signature verso.

Painting of A Qajar Couple

Painting.
Origin: Qajar Period, Persia.
Date: 19th Century.
Material and Technique: Gouache on paper.
Size: 26.6 x 18.5 cm.
Sold at Christie's auction.
Source: [1].

This painting shows a seated couple hand in hand, with the woman's hand in the man's lap.

A Portrait of Qajar Dervish

Painting.
Origin: Qajar Dynasty, Persia.
Date: 19th Century.
Material ans Technique: Gouache on paper.
Size: 22.8 x 16 cm.
Sold at Christie's auction.
Source: [1]

In this painting, a young dervish is shown wearing blue robe holding a beggar's crutch and flowers, with signature inscription cartouche to the left, on a ground of flowers. A dervish is a member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, some of which perform whirling dances and vigorous chanting as acts of ecstatic devotion.

Portrait of a Son of Fath Ali Shah Qajar

Painting
Origin: Qajar Dynasty, Persia.
Date: circa 1815.
Material and Technique: Oil on canvas.
Sold at Christie's auction.
Size: 69 x 43 cm.
Source: [1]

This painting is a bust portrait of a son of Fath Ali Shah, wearing a high Qajar crown and elaborately jeweled collar on his sleeves, with pendant just visible through the his long black beard.

Qajar Still Life Paintings

Painting.

Origin: Qajar Dynasty, Iran.
Date: early 19 century.
Size: 91 cm x 77 cm.
Sold on an auction.

Source: [1]

Still life as a genre entered Persian painting in the late 18th century when the influential artist Mirza Baba (who worked for Fath Ali Shah) began to fill the foreground of his architectural paintings with arrangements of over-sized ripe fruit, a natural counterpoint to the man made lavish palace architecture beyond.

Iskander (Alexander) is Watching the Sirens

Painting.
Era: Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 1541.
Materials and Techniques: Miniatures, Gouache.
Size: 17.6 x 14 cm.
Kept in Hermitage Museum, Russia.
Sources: [1],[2].

This is another example of nude art in Safavid Period. It is permanently kept in the State Hermitage Museum.

A Prince of Persia

Painting.
Period: Mughal Empire, India.
Date: 18th-19th century.
Creation Place: India.
Material and Technique: Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Size: 21.5 x 15 cm.
Kept in Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, USA.
Source: [1].

This painting shows a Persian prince in India. I am guessing that he is a member of Afsharid dynasty due to the form of his headgear.

Scène D'amour - Safavid Persians Making Love

Painting.
Period: Safavid Era, Iran.
Date: 1692.
Size:  10.3  x 17.4 cm.
Materials and Techniques: Gouache and gold on paper.
Kept in Musées d'art et d'histoire - Ville de Genève (Museum of Art and History, Geneva, Switzerland).
Source: [1].

نقاشی اروتیک صفوی - موزه هنر و تاریخ ژنو - سوئیس

This erotic painting is kept in the Museum of Art and History in Geneva. There are few other interesting items in this museum, which I will post later on. By the middle of the 17th century, erotic art had emerged as a major theme of Persian painting. Bold or hidden, sometimes strange and often humorous, references to the erotic in later Safavid painting and drawing have been understood as expressions of lyrical beauty, metaphors for mystical union, or documents of social realities.

A Large Portrait of a Qajar Prince - Possibly Abbas Mirza

Painting.
Era: Qajar Period, Persia.
Date: 1800s.
Material and Techniques: Oil on canvas.
Size: 172 by 81.5 cm.
Sold on Sotheby's auction.
Source: [1].

This large portrait is sold on Sotheby's. The work is attributed to Mihr Ali. It is possibly a portrait of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza. One interesting observation about such paintings in this period, is the narrow waist of royal subjects to the extent that they somewhat look feminine.

Alexander the Great and His Men Watching Naked Girls Swim in the Sea of China

Folio.
Era: Unknown Dynasty, Iran.
Date: 1517-1518 AD.
Material and Technique: ink and pigments on laid paper.
Kept in Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Sources: [1],[2].

اسکندر در حال تماشای دختران عریان در دریای چین - خمسه نظامی - موزه هنر والترز، آمریکا

This is an illuminated and illustrated Khamsah (quintet) by Niẓāmī Ganjavī (d. 605 AH / 1209 CE), copied by Muḥammad Mūsá al-Mudhahhib ('the Limner') in Safavid Iran in 924 AH / 1518 CE. The manuscript opens with a double-page illustration, which is followed by a double-page illumination. In total, there are six Arabic colophons, one at the end of each of the first four poems and two for the two parts of the final poem (Kitāb-i Sharafnāmah-i Iskandarī and Kitāb-i Iqbālnāmah). The dates of these colophons indicate that the various poems were not executed consecutively. The writing of the text extended over a period of approximately three months, 6 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 923 AH / 1517 CE to 7 Rabīʿ I 924 AH / 1518 CE. The text is written in black nastaʿlīq script with blue subject/section headings. In addition to illuminated title pieces and headpieces, there are twenty-six illustrations. The binding is not original to the manuscript.

Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) - Qajar Period

Painting.
Era: Qajar Period, Persia.
Date: 19th century.
Kept in Imperial Library, Golestan Palace, Tehran, Iran.
Source: Iranian.com.

This miniature is from a copy of the Thousand and One Nights, painted under the direction of Sani ul-Molk Ghafari, who was the official painter at the court of two Qajar Kings: Mohammad Shah, and Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar.

Treatise on Physical Love - Mughal Empire

Manuscript.
Era: Mughal Empire, India.
Date: 17th century.
Kept in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France.
Source: Iranian.com.

This miniature is from a treatise on physical love with no title or author's name, which was translated from an Indian work by Koka Pandita, the Koka Shastra. In the preface Koka Pandita is described as a vizier of a ruler named Bahram Shah of Delhi, who was said to have a thousand concubines.

According to Wikipedia, the Ratirahasya (Sanskrit रतिरहस्य ) (translated in English as Secrets of Love, also known as the Koka Shastra) is a medieval Indian sex manual written by Kokkoka, a poet, who is variously described as Koka or Koka Pundit. The exact date of its writing is not known, but it is estimated the text was written in the 11th or 12th century. It is speculated that Ratirahasya was written to please a king by the name Venudutta. Kokkoka describes himself in the book as siddha patiya pandita, i.e. "an ingenious man among learned men.The manual was written in Sanskrit. [1]

Two Lovers in a Pavilion

Painting and calligraphy.
Era: Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 16th-17th century.
Kept in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France.
Source: Iranian.com.

Two lovers in a pavilion. Miniature from a Moraqqa, a collection of models of calligraphy by the best Persian scribes.

Dalliance - Safavid Period

Painting.
Era: Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 17th century.
Kept in Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
Source: Iranian.com.

Two Lovers

Painting
Era: Safavid Period, Iran
Date: 17th century
Formerly Kept in Kevorkian Collection, New York, NY, USA.
Source: Iranian.com

Winged Man Having Sex With an Animal - Ajayeb Al Makhlukat - Wonders of Creation

Illustration
Era: Possibly Ottoman Empire, Turkey
Date: 17th Century
Kept in Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, Turkey.
Source: Iranian.com

This is a miniature illustrating the Ajayeb al-Makhlukat or Wonders of Creation. It possibly belongs to Ottoman Period.