FAQ
Attributed to Muhammad Hasan (Iranian, active 1808–40). Portrait of Prince Yahya. Iran, Qajar dynasty, circa 1835–36. Oil on canvas, 67 x 35 in. (170.2 x 88.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wilkinson, 72.26.5
This painting is an idealized representation of a prince of the Qajar dynasty of Iran (1785–1925), identified as Yahya Mirza in an inscription above his right shoulder. Born in 1817, Yahya was the forty-third son of Fath cAli Shah, the second ruler of the dynasty (reigned 1798–1834), who frequently installed his children as provincial governors in an attempt to maintain political centralization. While still a youth, Yahya was appointed to the seat of Gilan province along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
This painting was likely produced upon Yahya's appointment to his governorship, as indicated by several elements in the painting. First, the inscription describes him as navāb, a term meaning vice-regent or governor. Second, the subject's frontal pose, embroidered red silk robe, bejeweled crown, luxurious accoutrements, and official regalia such as the Order of the Lion and Sun, indicate his status within the state hierarchy. Finally, the pearl- and ruby-encrusted watch in the foreground, precisely documenting the time, probably alludes to the "auspicious hour" of Yahya's ascent to the provincial seat, a ceremonial time determined by court astrologers.
Large-scale oil painting was adopted by Persian artists as early as the seventeenth century; however, artistic practice in this medium did not reach its culmination in Iran until the nineteenth century, specifically during the reign of Fath cAli Shah. Portraits like this one were frequently produced as a single element in an overall decorative program for an architectural interior and were intended to be fitted into niches in palaces and pavilions. These niches often occupied spaces well above eye-level, which, in combination with the commanding treatment of the subject, lent these paintings a powerful, iconic air—even if the subject, like Yahya, was a relatively minor figure.
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum