Qajar Lacquer

Author(s): B. W. Robinson
Source: Muqarnas , 1989, Vol. 6 (1989), pp. 131-146
Published by: Brill

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1602286

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 B. W. ROBINSON

QAJAR LACQUER*

Persian lacquer is first encountered in a handful of specially made presentation penboxes, with every sur
face, both interior and exterior, covered with miniatu
bookcovers of the late fifteenth century in the Topkapi
Library, Istanbul.' They have the same type of designpainting; the subjects portrayed on these are general
as leather bindings of the same period, and lacquer either a gallery of the ancient Persian kings with th
bookcovers of this traditional medallion and pendant
courts, or else Bahram Gur being entertained by
design continued in production through the Qajar seven princesses in the various colored pavilions (f
period. Besides bookcovers, a few lacquer doors have1). Mirror cases and boxes or caskets of various ki
survived from the time of Shah CAbbas, but the greatwere added to the repertory during the eighteenth c
tury. So when the Qajars came to power in the 17
majority of lacquer doors that appear on the market
and elsewhere are evidently of late-nineteenth-centurya considerable range of lacquer objects was already
date, though generally of very good quality. Lacquer production, and the technique had been perfected. On
penboxes, or qalamdans, did not appear (or have notor two further items were added during the reign
survived) earlier than the late seventeenth century. TheNasr al-Din Shah: we begin to encounter small ca
earliest examples are usually rectangular with hinged for letter seals, spectacles cases, and playing cards (fi
lids and designs of horizontal format;2 vertical designs2) of which the Brooklyn Museum has a fine s
seem to have been introduced later. But the normal Mamluk playing cards have been found at Fustat,4 an
type with rounded ends and sliding compartment the Vienna
also National Library has some very fine ea
Safavid painted examples,5 but I have not found a
appears in miniature paintings of the same period,3
though no actual examples seem to have survived. In specimens from the seventeenth or eighteen
surviving
centuries.
the second half of the nineteenth century we encounter
It is important to stress the technical differences
between Persian lacquer and the lacquer of China and
* This paper was originally a lecture given at the symposium,
Japan. In the latter the base was usually of wood, and
"The Art and Culture of Qajar Iran" supported by a grant
from the Hagop Kevorkian Fund and held on April 4,the design
1987, at was built up, often in relief, by a succession
the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York. of applications of lacquer-the gummy exudation of the

1. Presentation pencase. Muhammad Ismacil, 1866. Private collection.

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132 B. W. ROBINSON

2. Set of playing cards. Second quarter of the 19th century. Royal Scottish

3. Pair of bookcovers. Mid-19th century. Deutsches Ledermuseum,

Offenbach.

lacquer tree, or rhus vernicifera-colored, or enriched

with powdered metal, and polished. In Persian lacquer
the base is almost always of papier-mache. The surface
was thinly coated with a fine plaster, or gesso, and
upon this the painter executed his design in the
miniature-painting technique of the time. The whole
was then covered with a layer of transparent lacquer or
varnish, which not only protected the painting, but
enriched and mellowed the colors. The Comte de
Rochechouart, who was in Persia in the 1860's, has 4.
left
Mirror case. Mid-19th century. Private collection.

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 QAJAR LACQUER 133

5. Front cover. Sayyid Mirza, ca. 1830. British Library ms. or. 2265.

6. Court of Muctamid al-Dawla. Pencase. Ismacil, 1848. Victoria and Albert Museum, no. 763-1876.

a detailed account of the whole process, together with the interminable succession of illustrations to the
classical poets which he was normally required
meticulous technical details of the making of the papier-
mache, and of the composition and characteristics ofproduce. Here he could let himself go and experim
various varnishes.6 with all sorts of ideas. In fact the growth of lac
Lacquer painting was thus a branch of miniature painting during the eighteenth century coincided w
a sharp decline in book painting. The balance w
painting, and provided the artist with an escape from

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134 B. W. ROBINSON

however, to some extent restored under the Qajars,

though lacquer painting remained paramount in quan-
tity and, with very few exceptions, in quality.
The growth not only of lacquer but also of oil paint-
ing and painted enamel contributed to the partial
eclipse of book painting. The leading court painters of
Fath CAli Shah made their reputations by large oil por-
traits of the king, the princes, and the various court
ladies, and not infrequently turned their hands to lac-
quer painting. But miniature painting on paper by such
men as Mirza Baba, Mihr CAli, or Sayyid Mirza is
almost unknown. A prominent exception, of course, is
the manuscript of the king's diwan presented to George
IV (then Prince Regent) and now in the Royal Library
at Windsor Castle.7 For this Mirza Baba executed not
only the superb lacquer covers and all the illuminations
and marginal decoration, but also the fine miniature
portraits of Fath CAli Shah and of his uncle and
predecessor, which the volume contains. It was not till
the reign of Nasr al-Din Shah, and the preeminence of
the great painter Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari Sanic al-Mulk,
that miniature painting began to regain its former high
position,8 but even so it was more in the form of album
pictures and portraits than of book illustration.
From the early years of Fath CAli Shah it seems that
Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz were the chief, if not the
only, production centers for painted lacquer; signed
pieces from this period are very rare. Subjects were
either court scenes (including royal hunts), scenes from
legend and romance, or the infinite varieties of the gul-
bulbul or flower and bird design (figs. 3, 4). Sir William
Ouseley, who accompanied his brother the ambassador
Sir Gore Ouseley as secretary, has left an account of the
lacquerwares available at Isfahan in 1811:9
7. Portrait of Muctamid al-Dawla. Mirror case. Mid-19th century.
Brooklyn Museum.
At Ispahan the covers of books are ornamented in a style
peculiarly rich; and they often exhibit miniatures
painted with considerable neatness and admirably var-
nished. I purchased many loose covers of different sizes,
miniature. The common subjects are battles and hunt-
containing representations of the finest Persian flowers
ing parties; but they often exhibit scenes from popular
delineated from nature in exquisite colours and with
romances, among which the favourite seems to be
minute accuracy. Most provinces of the kingdom are
Nizami's story of the loves of Khusrau and Shirin.
supplied by this great city with pen-cases made, like the
bookcovers, of pasteboard, and sometimes equally
He goes on to describe mirror cases and mosaic work.
beautiful in their decorations; of these cases may be seen
in one shop parcels three or four feet high, comprising Probably the finest early Qajar painted-lacquer
bookcovers are those commissioned by Fath-CAli Shah
many hundred, of various patterns, and of all prices
from a shilling, or half-rial, to three or four guineas,for
or the great Nizami manuscript of Shah Tahmasp,
tumans. ... Of paper also many sandukcheh or small boxes
then one of the treasures of the royal library.10 The
are manufactured at Ispahan. These boxes in general are
work was probably done about 1830, and was divided
splendidly painted and varnished; some contain, in vari-
between Sayyid Mirza and Muhammad Baqir, each
ous compartments on the lids, ends and sides, very
being responsible for one cover (fig. 5). Both represent
interesting pictures executed in the best style of Persian

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 QAJAR LACQUER 135

8. "Holy Family." Mirror case. Mirza Aqa (style of Najaf), mid-19th century. Private collection.

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136 B. W. ROBINSON

was a very remarkable man (figs. 6, 7

...-..... ..t Georgian eunuch, brought back to Ira
Aqa Muhammad Khan after the sack of T
-j - He rose by ability through a number of posts till he
became governor of Isfahan in 1829 with the title of
Mu'tamid al-Dawla (English visitors called him "the
Matamet"). His type of government was aptly
summed up by an English writer some eighty years
?;`i _! - i ii later:
..:1 w 'w w tel He believed that the directest road to truth was by tor-
r $ture, and that the best adornment for a town square was
not a band-stand but a gallows. He held that the surest
way to put an end to burglary was to catch a thief and
cut off his fingers. His specific for brigandage, the bete
noire of Persian governors, was the Getch, the Plaster; a
brigand is lowered to his neck in a pit, which is then
;r':?] ~9 !iLfilled with liquid plaster-this, as it sets, expands. It is
for an encouragement to the others. His method for
bringing down the price of bread was to nail the Chief
of the Bakers by the ears to his shop door; or, if that
failed, to bake him in his own oven .... The people still
say 'When he was governor there was cheapness and the
i, '~. .: "~. "country was safe', whence it may be concluded that it is
unwise to apply to one country the standards of
another. 12

From the first, Najaf set the standard of meticulous

finish and warm color schemes, which also distin-

*->/plt . v.A', .., ;>f} s ; .. .,r .,,...... .

9. Famous dervishes. Mirror case. Muhammad Ismacil, mid-19th

century. Private collection.
''.. :, ......

Fath CAli Shah hunting, in the guise of Bahram Gur,

and though they have suffered some chipping, these
bookcovers remain the masterpieces of lacquer painting
from his reign.
Fath CAli Shah died in 1834, and our attention begins
to focus increasingly on Isfahan, where the work of
Najaf (or Najaf CAli) was beginning to appear." He
came of a line of Isfahan painters, and there can be no
doubt that for the next half-century he and his family
dominated the whole field of lacquer painting. He had
a brilliant younger brother, Muhammad Ismacil, and ' I
three talented sons, Muhammad Kazim, Jacfar, and
Ahmad, and their careers take us into the 1880's.
Isfahan must have been an exciting place to live in at
this time. The governor, Minuchihr Khan, who seems
to have patronized Najaf and his family to some extent, 10. Self-portrait. Muhammad Ismacil, 1866 (see fig. 1

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 QAJAR LACQUER 137

1 la. Mirror case. Detail of Sultan Abdul Mejid. Muhammad lb. Mirror case. Detail of Czar Nicholas I.
Ismacil, 1854. Private collection.

*.I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~11

'____
rlo... ...
_ t
} .|s ~~~~~~~~.A ....

1 lc. Mirror case. Detail of Prince Nasr al-Din and the Czar.

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138 B. W. ROBINSON

12. Mirror case. Probably Najaf imitating Muhammad Isma'il, mid-19th century

guished the work of his brother and sons.

What His subjects,
may be a glimpse of him is provi
and those of his contemporaries and successors,
English are James Ussher, who was
traveler
1864, prints,
largely inspired by European pictures and and writes quan-
as follows of his visit to the Chehel
Situn:13
tities of which (and generally not of the best quality or
taste) were flooding into Iran at this time. Thus varia-
Behind this large apartment were the other rooms of the
tions on the theme of the Holy Family often palace, appear in
in one of which lived a native artist, who, we
lacquerwork by Najaf and his followers, wereand in the
told, was thisbest painter in Ispahan. His chief
employment
context have no religious significance (fig. seemed to be painting kalemduns, or cases
8); indeed,
busts of European coquettes may appear on thewriting
for holding samematerials, some of which were
remarkably handsome, and not exceeded in minuteness
piece, interspersed with the heads of young European
of detail or delicacy of finish by productions of the finest
military officers or dandies in smoking caps, framed
miniature inshowed us a portrait of the Shah
painting. He
gold scrollwork or flowers. dressed in a short blue frock coat, with high collar, com-
pletely covered was
Muhammad Isma'il, Najaf's younger brother, over with gold embroidery and precious
stones.
perhaps the most brilliant and original member of the
Alas, he or
family, and attained the title of naqqash-bashi, does not mention the artist's name, b
painter
laureate, to the prince-governor of description
Isfahan (fig.
fits9).
Muhammad Ismacil so well t

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 QAJAR LACQUER 139

13. Mirror case. Riza Imami, 1866. Victoria and Albert Museum, no. 922-1869.

temptation to identify the two is well-nigh irresistible. several of them. But one scene shows a historical inci-
At least he has left us a self-portrait in the interior of dent vouched for by European writers.15 Before he
one of his penboxes (fig. 10). came to the throne, Nasr al-Din, then no more than
Ismacil's work is quite different from that of Najaf, seven years old, had a ceremonial meeting with the
and his compositions usually consist of numerous tiny Czar at Erivan, in the course of which the Czar, an
figures, often in European costume, from which he enormous man, took the little Persian prince on his
gained the nickname of farangi-saz, "the Euro- knee, and permitted him to play with the imperial
peanizer." A characteristic example is a mirror casemoustachios (fig. llc). It is said that this incident col-
dated to 1854.14 Each surface is divided into three
ored all Nasr al-Din's relationships with Russia after he
came to the throne. An even more elaborate piece is a
scenes (fig. 11 a-c), most of which cannot be precisely
identified, though Sultan Abdul Mejid of Turkeycasket
(fig.of 1865 in the Historical Museum at Bern,
1 la) and Czar Nicholas I of Russia (fig. 1 lb) illustrating
appear in the siege of Herat by Muhammad Shah; it

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140 B. W. ROBINSON

14. Mirror case. Pseudo-Safavid style, late 19th century, Metropolitan Museum of

excelled in this
was shown at Geneva in 1985.16 It is interesting kind of work, and hazelnuts are o
to note
prominent
that in one or two of his later pieces Najaf in his
imitated designs. Riza Imami was comm
the
style of his younger brother (fig. 12).17
sioned to make a magnificent mirror case for the P
Another prominent nineteenth-century family of
exposition of 1867,
lac- where it was acquired by the
quer artists at Isfahan was the Imami. They
toria showed
and Albert Museum (fig. 13). Later on,
less originality than Najaf and his circle, but their
Imami seem towork
have produced a considerable num
is equally fine, being generally confined to variations
of pieces in Safavid style, sometimes provided with
on the bird-and-flower theme. Nasrallah Imami cumstantial inscriptions and dates in the reign of S

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 QAJAR LACQUER 141

... "?.//U peanized and combined with delicate figure subjects in

panels.
.... ' A certain amount has been said on the subject of
designs and motives found on penboxes, but one or tw
' ..... K' special types are worth mentioning here. Firstly, th
^ ri i is a certain technique akin to marbling, which produc
a curious effect of fat oily leaf-shaped forms; it seems t
* : have been practiced by two artists only, Rajab CAli in
the second quarter and Abu Talib in the third quarte
of the nineteenth century. These "fat leaf' designs are
often combined with another technical novelty produc-
ing an effect not unlike engine-turning on a silver
watchcase or snuffbox. The secret of these technique
.w ....seems to have died with Abu Talib.18 Then there is
group of penboxes of late-nineteenth or early-
twentieth-century date and very high quality, painted
inside and out with narrative scenes illustrating the suc-
, cessive stages of a wedding, from the first tentative
h approaches of the go-between to the final consumma
. tion. 9 CAbd al-Rahim of Isfahan was a specialist in th
genre, and his works were no doubt in great deman
for wedding gifts. Landscapes are found not infre-
quently on penboxes. Pure landscape has never had a
place in the repertory of Persian painting, and thes
.... ~ examples, like so many of the figure subjects, are
European-often Russian-derivation, with their
15. Self-portrait.Aqa Buzurg. Pencase, 1853. M [useum of De- castles, bridges, and church spires.
corative Arts, Tehran. Another remarkable small group of penboxes
illustrates the Last Judgment. The French traveler
Hommaire de Hell was in Persia between 1846 and
1848, and whilst at Tabriz was visited by "the m
CAbbas, which have been known to dece ive Western celebrated painter of Persia, deaf and dumb for
collectors and even museums (fig. 14). Th ley also sup- years," who brought for his inspection an unfi
plied finely painted but anachronistic id an irrelevant penbox of which Hommaire de Hell gives a full
miniatures to fill up blank spaces (or evenot cover parts tion, though without mentioning the artist's n
of the text) in earlier manuscripts. The top and one of the sides were completed,
Meanwhile much fine lacquer was alscbeing pro- former showing the weighing of souls by the Ar
duced at Shiraz, where the leading figureni the middle Michael in the middle, on the left the gaping m
nineteenth century was Aqa Buzurg, aname which hell with demons and serpents gleefully tormen
translates easily as "Mr. Big." He was atalented
t por- damned amid flames, and on the right, Paradise
traitist, as can be seen on a penbox in the
Museum of the blessed are enjoying the sensual delights pr
Decorative Arts, Tehran. It was most obably
pr com- in the Quran; the latter illustrates a Napoleonic
missioned by Firuz Mirza the prince-gove rnor, as it is scene (fig. 16a). Evidently the painter died be
covered with lively portraits of his ministe
rs and cour- completing his work, and some twenty years later
tiers; Aqa Buzurg has included a self-portr
ait on one of taken over by Ismacil Jalayr, who added anothe
the ends (fig. 15), and has dated his wc
)rk to 1853. scene (fig. 16b) and a finely executed desig
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the inscription on the base (fig. 16c). This Ismacil
foremost Shirazi painter was Fathallah, wl
ho produced well-known painter of the 1860's, though not ot
exquisitely painted penboxes on which e
thtraditional known as a lacquer artist, and a great favorite
erably Euro- shah; but he later lost his reason and committed
Persian bird-and-flower designs are consid I

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142 B. W. ROBINSON

16a. Penbox. Napoleonic battle scene. Muhammad Hasan Afshar, 1846. Pri

16b. Penbox. Muhammad Shah in battle. Ismacil Jalayr, 1861.

16c. Penbox Base. Ismacil Jalayr, 1861.

The last years

suicide. The original artist of this penbox, itofappears,
the nineteenth century saw a
tendency
was Muhammad Hasan Afshar, noted towards
for fine an even more marked Westerniza-
portraits
of Muhammad Shah and Nasr al-Din.21 Another of tion. This took two forms. Firstly, the depiction of
single of
these Last Judgment penboxes, by another member figures and scenes of an almost photographic
the Afshar family, is in the Los Angeles County
realism, under the influence of imported Russian pieces
Museum of Art22 and yet another was exhibited made for atthe Persian market (fig. 17). These were a
Bernheimer's Gallery in London last year,23 but speciality of several artists who used the name of
neither can compare in quality with the combined work Simirumi (from the village of Simirum near Isfahan).
of Muhammad Hasan Afshar and Ismacil Jalayr. This Incidentally, one or two examples have come to light of
splendid piece figured in the Cairo Exhibition of 1935, penboxes made and lacquered in Japan for the Persian
and eventually turned up at Sotheby's in 1978, where market; the lacquer is of fine quality (one piece was
it fetched ?45,000. signed in Japanese) and, of course, in the Japanese

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 QAJAR LACQUER 143

technique; the boxes themselves are faithful reproduc-

tions of the normal Persian form. This is surely a fur-
ther remarkable piece of evidence (if any were needed)
of the irrepressible commercial enterprise of that active
and industrious people, even within a generation of
their emergence from feudalism. Secondly there was
the use of designs borrowed or copied from European
books and prints of a more or less erotic nature-the
kind of Victorian "soft porn" for which Holywell
Street (off the Strand) was formerly notorious. These
are harmless enough-just extremely vulgar-and
were a natural development from the simpering
Cyprians and languid dandies of the previous genera-
tion. The whole group demonstrates the lamentable
effects that can sometimes proceed from "Western
enlightenment" (fig. 18).
But, as already mentioned, much lacquer painting of
this late Qajar period takes the form of exercises in the
Safavid style, including endless versions of Shah
Ismacil at the battle of Chaldiran and Nadir Shah at
Karnal derived from the large murals in the Chehel
Situn at Isfahan. There can be no doubt that many of
these works in Safavid style were intended to deceive,
nor indeed that they often succeeded, as witness (dare
one suggest?) the Berlin casket so enthusiastically des-
cribed by the late Dr. Kiihnel,2 and a well painted but
clearly bogus mirror case in the Brooklyn Museum.
However, finely painted and unashamedly contem-
17. Penboxes in Russian style. Late 19th-early 20th century. Private
porary lacquer could still be produced in the 1920's, as collection.

can be seen in a pair of panels by CAbd al-Latif Sanic

Humayun (fig. 19). The style may be Safavid-derived,
but it is no slavish pastiche, and displays some original
and individual features. Even more recently thegive, tech-an immense amount of quiet pleasure both in the
nique of lacquer painting has been applied to theland of its origin and in the West.
pro-
duction of small plaques of ivory or mother-of-pearl
designed for foreign visitors and using traditionalLondon,
sub- England
jects such as hunting or elegant dissipation. Very occa-
sionally these are competent works signed by reputable
artists, but the vast majority is turned out "by the
NOTES
yard" in small establishments in the back streets of
Isfahan. 1. Mehmet Aga-Oglu, Persian Bookbindings of the Fifteenth C
In this short paper I have made no attempt to present (Ann Arbor, 1935), pl. 10.
2. B. W. Robinson, ed., The Keir Collection: Islamic Painting
a full and coherent history of lacquer painting in the
Arts of the Book (London, 1976), no. VIII.51, pl. 44.
Qajar period; that would require a full-length book. 3. I L. T. Gyuzalian, ed., Albom Indiiskikh i Persidskikh M
have merely tried to draw attention to some interesting XVI-XVIII vv, (Moscow, 1962), pl. 92.
4. Robinson, Keir Collection, nos. 1.27, 28, pl. 8.
points, a handful of outstanding objects, and one or two
5. MS Mixt. 313 ff. 48a-5a; Dorothea Duda, Islamische Hand-
remarkable personalities. Qajar lacquer may not be
schriften 1 (Die Illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Oster-
great Art with a capital A, but its spirit is light-hearted, reichischen Nationalbibliothek) (Vienna, 1983), pp. 153-55, Abb.
its technical brilliance is undeniable, its colors are 390-97.

warm and bright, and it has given, and continues to

6. M. le Comte Julien de Rochechouart, Souvenirs d'un Voyage en

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18. Penboxes in debased European style. Second half of the 19th century. Historical Museum, Bern.

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 QAJAR LACQUER 145

19. Lacquered panel with Muslim saints. Attributed to CAbd al-Latif Sanic Humayun, ca. 1920. Private collection.

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146 B. W. ROBINSON

Perse (Paris, 1867), chap. 23, "Du Cartonnage et de

15. Dr. Moritz la Pein-
Wagner, Travels in Persia, Georgia, and Koordistan
ture." (London, 1856), vol. 3, p. 161.
16. Toby Falk, ed., Treasures of Islam, Geneva exhibition, 1985
7. B. W. Robinson, Persian Miniature Painting from Collections in the
British Isles, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1967, no. (London, 1985), no. 162, pp. 182, 183.
95, p. 78. 17. See also Bernheimer Gallery, Eastern Lacquer, London, 1986,
8. One superb piece of lacquer painting by Sanic al-Mulk is no. 20.
recorded: see Rachel Milstein, Islamic Painting in the Israel18. See Bernheimer catalogue, nos. 14, 15.
Museum, Jerusalem 1984, no. 144, pp. 117, 119 (pen-box dated 19. See, e.g., Paris sale catalogue, Hotel George V (Salon de la
to 1858). Paix), Art Kadjar, 29 October 1975, Lot 50, color pl. 3.
9. Sir William Ouseley, Travels into Various Countries of the East, 20. Xavier Hommaire de Hell, Voyage en Turquie et en Perse execute par
More Particularly Persia (London, 1823), vol. 3, p. 62. ordre du Gouvernementfranfais pendant les annees 1846, 1847 et 1848
10. B. W. Robinson, "A Pair of Royal Book-covers," Oriental Art (Paris, 1854), vol. 3, p. 18.
(1964): 3-7. 21. Robinson, British Isles, no. 102, pp. 81, 83.
11. See Amir Mascud Sipahram, "Aqa Najaf Isfahani qalamdan- 22. Pratapaditya Pal, ed., Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Col-
saz" (in Persian) in Honar va Mardom, no. 31 (1965), p. 25. lection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1973, no. 365.
12. A. Cecil Edwards, A Persian Caravan (London, 1928), p. 15. 23. Bernheimer catalogue, no. 24; see also Gaston Wiet, Exposition
13. James Ussher, A Journey from London to Persepolis (London, d'Art persan (Cairo: Societe des Amis de l'Art, 1935), no. P87,
1865), p. 583. and sale catalogue, Sotheby's, 9 October 1978, lot 187.
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