Two portraits of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar, one signed by Muhammad Ghaffari, Kamal al-Mulk, Persia, Qajar, dated 1307 AH/1889 AD

the larger painting, gouache heightened with gold on paper, signed at lower right edge, laid down on an album page with green outer margins, ruled in blue and gold; the smaller portrait lacquered on paper, with a thin gold border, combined with two sheets of Qajar stationary, one with the embossed seal of Zill al-Sultan, the other with that of Muzaffer al-Din Shah

Both in good overall condition, as viewed.
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The larger of the two portraits in the present lot is by Muhammad Ghaffari, better known as Kamal al-Mulk, a member of "...the remarkable Ghaffari family of Kashan that produced many of the most important painters of Iran for 150 years or more" (see Raby 1999, p.70). By the end of Nasir al-Din Shah's reign, he had become the premier court painter, and was responsible for most of the ruler's portraits. This particular painting appears to have been executed from a photograph rather than from life, and relates to two larger oil on canvas paintings (one in a private collection, the other in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art), published in Raby, op.cit., pp.71-73.