A Large Ceiling Panel With Hunting and Battle Scenes, Qajar, Iran, Third Quarter of the 19th Century

A long standing Islamic tradition of ceiling decoration continued to flourish during the Qajar period when painted ceiling panels became a distinctive feature of room decoration in the more lavish homes and palaces during the 19th century.  Appearing to reflect the carpets beneath, the ceiling panels largely mirror the intricate details of densely packed vegetal, foliate and geometric designs of Persian carpets in general whilst retaining a distinctly Qajar quality.  Apart from the figural designs that appear on ceiling panels from this period onwards, the present example exhibits other popular aspects of the Qajar pictorial vocabulary such as the pretty maidens, birds, urns full of flowers and European style landscapes.  Indeed the composition itself recalls the popular Qajar style with its numerous panels and medallions on a luxuriant foliate background.

Layla Diba remarks that the ceiling panel in the Staatliche Museum in Berlin with its highly decorative ornamentation "illustrates the continued preference for the early Qajar style even in the mid to late nineteenth century" (Diba and Ekhtiar 1998, p.216).  The present example however suggests a more progressive approach to the motif of the ceiling panel.  Whereas other examples of ceiling panels (Sotheby's, Geneva, 25th June 1985, lot 242; Sotheby's, London, 13th October 1999, lot 24) employ bright colours and a largely ornamental artistic vocabulary, here the refined and more muted palette complements what may be a politically motivated decorative scheme, the main panels appear to show four distinct cultures; the Indian, Arab, Iranian and European.  Whether or not the patron commissioned a purely decorative scheme, or whether he wished to highlight the political ties between these races is open to discussion.  Nevertheless, the ceiling panel in question offers an alternative to the traditional sweetly ornamental figures and decorative detail, with monumental panels bearing landscape scenes of Western influence showing scenes of war and hunting.