The manuscript was created in Qajar Iran in 1838, presented to Muhammad Shah Qajar, later owned by Rudolf Gelpke, sold through Sam Fogg in London in 2017, and acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2019, where it is currently held.
The image showcases the second Sassanid king of kings of Iran, Shapur I, associated with the famous rock relief at Bishapur. It has been created as a detailed illustration in the Persian travelogue, which underlines the author’s ability to combine the description of the historical character with the observation of the depicted environment. The focus on the figure and the monument as the center of the illustration allows for a better understanding of the portrayed personage and his environment.
Ahmad Naqqash conveys both the image of the ruler and manages to capture the details of the architectural setting with precision. The specific choice to focus on the figure of Shapur and his costume allows him to underline the importance of the historical personage and achieve a sense of scale within the composition. At the same time, the choice to depict a figure wearing elaborate clothing and jewelry reflects the author’s attention to the specific traits of the environment and the setting he illustrates.
The image becomes a hallmark of the artist’s approach, which emphasizes the need to focus on the main detail while illustrating the events and subjects. Ahmad Naqqash was a notable master of the decorative and miniature painting, and his works underlined the importance of precision and the observance of the minute detail. Such an approach allowed him and his contemporaries to document the architectural developments of ancient Iran, its culture, and achievements.
The figure of Shapur I, therefore, showcases not only the features of Iranian costume and customs but also underlines the importance of ancient buildings and their observation by foreign travelers and artists. Thus, the image becomes an important historical document that highlights how the Sassanid dynasty and its rulers were viewed in the Persian territory. The interest of Naqqash in the subject allowed him to create a masterpiece of miniature painting, which assigned new meaning to the depiction of historical figures and events.
This masterful drawing created by an outstanding master Ahmad Naqqash as a part of the Persian travelogue depicts Shapur I, the second Sassanid king of kings of Iran, linked to the famous rock relief of Bishapur. The author of the illustration emphasizes the importance of the portrayed personage by depicting him in the center of the composition at a considerable size relative to the surrounding objects. The meticulous precision applied to illustrate the minor elements of the costume and jewelry, as well as the unique facial features of the king, deserves particular attention. The attention to the described details deepens our understanding of the relevant historical period. Thus, this miniature becomes a valuable source of information about ancient Iran, its architecture, and culture, which were preserved and interpreted in the later medieval times by foreign visitors and artists who depicted them in their works.
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By: Sangeeta choudhary
Historicism and Representation in Qajar Manuscript Production: Analyzing Ahmad Naqqash’s Persian TravelogueThis folio from the Metropolitan Museum of Art features an illustration by the nineteenth-century artist Ahmad Naqqash. It is preserved within the manuscript titled Persian Travelogue: A Diary of a Journey through the Region of Fars, dated 1838 CE (1254 AH) during the early Qajar period. The leaf showcases a text-image dynamic that captures a defining intellectual trend of the era: Qajar historicism. This movement actively revived Pre-Islamic Achaemenid and Sasanian visual idioms to legitimize contemporary imperial authority.
Visual Analysis and Epigraphic ContextThe left page (verso) presents a profile portrait of an ancient Persian king or noble. It mimics the stone bas-reliefs found at Persepolis and Pasargadae. The figure wears a fluted calathos crown, which the accompanying text contextualizes through an early modern lens. The beard and hair are rendered via tightly coiled, repeating circular stylized lines. This treatment mirrors Achaemenid stonemasonry techniques. However, the artist renders these ancient forms on paper using precise ink washes and delicate contouring typical of nineteenth-century Persian draftsmen.The right page (recto) contains a single text column written in fluent, elegant Nasta‘liq script. The passage opens with a prominent heading.
This title explicitly links the historical ruins of Fars to the mythical Kayanid dynasty of Firdausi’s Shahnameh. The subsequent Persian prose describes the architectural wonder of the crown ("Kolah-e Bozorg") and the heroic shelter ("Chatr-e Pahlavanit"). It directly credits the ancient visual reference to the legendary histories preserved by the poet Firdausi.The Politics of Qajar RevivalismThis composition bridges archaeological documentation and mythmaking. During the 1830s, European travelers and domestic intellectuals surveyed the ruins of Fars. Artists like Ahmad Naqqash accompanied these expeditions, translating three-dimensional monuments into codex-sized historical chronicles.Rather than executing a purely objective study, the artist filters ancient artifacts through an early modern Persian aesthetic. The inclusion of these stylized motifs served a specific ideological purpose for the Qajar elite. By embedding pre-Islamic monuments within traditional Persian manuscript layouts, the artwork projects a continuous lineage of sovereignty. It merges the mythological heroism of the Shahnameh with tangible Achaemenid monuments, crafting an idealized national narrative.If you are examining other folios from this travelogue, let me know if you would like to analyze how European perspective techniques alter these historical copies or investigate the epigraphic details of adjacent text passages.The Metropolitan Museum of ArtAhmad Naqqash - Persian Travelogue: A Diary of a Journey through the region of Fars - Qajar -
