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Antione Sevruguin 
Naser al-Din Shah seated on the Sun Throne in the Mirror Hall (Talare Ayneh), Golestan Palace 
1896 (before) 
  
Photograph 
Creative Commons - Wikipedia 
 
LL/58562 
  
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Myron Bement Smith Collection: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs, Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith, 1973-1985, FSA A.4 2.12.GN.31.01
 
"The Shah is sitting on the lower step of Takht-i Tavoos or the Peacock Throne in the throne room of Kakh-i Gulistan. Nasir al-Din Shah's headgear is missing the royal emblem of the Qajar court. The negative of this image is present in the archives (31.1). A close comparison of the print and the negative shows that the framing of the image in the print is a bit closer to the figure of the Shah, eliminating part of the surrounding room. The overall impression of the scene in the print is therefore that of an intimate and informal encounter between the king and the photographer, much like many other images by Sevruguin (Nasir having his moustache dyed, Hunting with Malijak, patting Aqa khan Khaja's head, etc.) Takht-i Tavoos (Peacock Throne) is a later name of Takht-i Khurshid or the Sun Throne. Erroneously the name of the Throne as the peacock throne equated it with the famous Indian throne of Shah Jahan and Nadir's war booty from India, whereas Takht-i Khurshid - visible in this image - was ordered by Fath Ali Shah Qajar around 1800s and built by an Isfahani artist known as Haji Muhammad Hussayn Khan Sadr. The name of the throne changed to the Peacock Throne after Fath Ali Shah's marriage to Tavoos Khanum, his favorite wife. The marriage was celebrated on this particular throne. In the occasion of various royal celebration - such as Salam-i Nawruzi - the throne would be moved out of the palace and into the Iwan-i Dar al-Imara (later known as the hall of Takht-i Marmar or the marble throne) and would be the seating place of the Qajar kings of the time. The tight framing of the print as compared to the negative also eliminates the number that is that is visible in the negative." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
 
See also:
 
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985, Local number: FSA A.15 01 
 

 
  
 
  
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