Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 8
A Qajar concertina Album of eighteen Paintings depicting tradesmen and domestic servants Persia, last quarter of the 19th Century
7 October 2014, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£6,000 - £8,000
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A Qajar concertina Album of eighteen Paintings depicting tradesmen and domestic servants
Persia, last quarter of the 19th Century
Persia, last quarter of the 19th Century
watercolours on paper laid down on card with coloured borders, in concertina form, loose, fine lacquer binding, covers richly decorated with a diaper pattern of flowerheads and stylised serrated leaves in gold on a black ground, border panels with intertwining floral and vegetal motifs, some chipping mostly to edges, detached
watercolours 200 x 120 mm.; album pages 250 x 170 mm.
watercolours 200 x 120 mm.; album pages 250 x 170 mm.
Footnotes
The subjects are as follows:
A water seller.
An ice seller.
A seller of birds and river fish.
A seller of wooden spoons.
A domestic maid wearing a tutu carrying a tray of drinks.
A nurse holding a baby.
A seller of flutes.
A seller of terracotta roof tiles.
A female musician.
A female musician playing a large tambourine.
A seller or sea fish.
A milliner making an astrakhan cap.
A nurse holding a baby.
A woman carrying her clothes on her head and clutching a samovar under her coat, probably going into service.
A seller of slippers.
A Ghalian man.
A seller of tobacco.
A fruit seller.
During his state visit to Europe in 1873 Nasr ad-Din Shah Qajar attended a ballet performance and on his return to Persia ordered all the women in his palaces to wear short skirts, or tutus, similar to those worn by the maids in this album.