A Miniature portrait of Nasr al-Din Shah Qajar (r.1848-96), signed by Abu'l Hassan Ghaffari, Persia, circa 1855

Watercolour on paper, depicting the head and shoulders of Nasr Al-Din Shah wearing a blue sash and tall hat with a feathered plume, signed lower right, set within a laurel-form brass brooch with an inscription to the reverse, with bespoke R & S. Garrard jewellery case 

Qajar Portraits, additional works of art included in the London showing of the exhibition Royal Persian Paintings: 1785-1925 

J. Raby, Qajar Portraits, London, 1999, p.29 & 31, no.105.

In good overall condition, colours bright, as viewed.
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inscriptions

signature at lower right of painting:
raqam-e abu'l-hasan
'Drawn by Abu'l-Hasan'

to reverse of brooch:

'Given to Ch. A. Murray by H.M. Shah of Persia on leaving H.B.M. Legation Teheran.'

The similarities of this portrait to that in the Louvre, signed as Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari naqqash-bashi and dated 1275 AH/1858 AD (Diba & Ekhtiyar, cat. no.74), shows that the painter of this small portrait is the same Abu'l-Hasan (circa 1814-66), the famous painter. He studied in Italy and France and on his return was appointed naqqash-bashi and was put in charge of the paintings of the One Thousand and One Night  (now in the Gulistan Palace Library) and was titled Sani' al-Mulk in 1277 AH/1860-61 AD.

For his biography and his other signed pieces, see Royal Persian Painting, edited by Layla. S. Diba & M. Ekhtiyar, 1999, cat.no.74, pp.241-3; Khalili, Robinson & Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands, Part Two, 1997, p.154, cat.no.365 and Karimzadeh-Tabrizi, The Lives & Art of Old Painters of Iran, vol.I, 1985, pp.23-34.