Iranian art of the Qajar period (1779-1925) has long been neglected and is little understood. This beautifully illustrated book for the first time comprehensively examines the flowering of Persian painting and the visual arts of this period. It focuses on the growth of a remarkable tradition of life-size figural painting, virtually unseen in the Islamic world. Exquisite historic manuscripts, lacquer works, calligraphies and enamels further illuminate the subject. The Qajar Epoch carries essays by leading scholars exploring the historical and social context of the period. Detailed entries describing and interpreting a wide variety of painting and artifacts, many hitherto unseen masterpieces from museums such as the Hermitage and private collections are virtually all illustrated in color and accompanied by translations of inscriptions, technical appendices and extensive bibliographies. A unique reference work, The Qajar Epoch will appeal to both specialist of pre-modern Iran and all those interested in non-Western artistic and cultural traditions.

Iranian art of the Qajar period (1779-1925) has long been neglected and is little understood. This beautifully illustrated book for the first time comprehensively examines the flowering of Persian painting and the visual arts of this period. It focuses on the growth of a remarkable tradition of life-size figural painting, virtually unseen in the Islamic world. Exquisite historic manuscripts, lacquer works, calligraphies and enamels further illuminate the subject. The Qajar Epoch carries essays by leading scholars exploring the historical and social context of the period. Detailed entries describing and interpreting a wide variety of painting and artifacts, many hitherto unseen masterpieces from museums such as the Hermitage and private collections are virtually all illustrated in color and accompanied by translations of inscriptions, technical appendices and extensive bibliographies. A unique reference work, The Qajar Epoch will appeal to both specialist of pre-modern Iran and all those interested in non-Western artistic and cultural traditions.

This book is the first survey of the figural arts of the Iranian world from prehistoric times to the early twentieth century ever to consider themes, rather than styles. Analyzing primarily painting - in manuscripts and albums, on walls and on lacquered, painted pen boxes and caskets - but also the related arts of sculpture, ceramics, and metalwork, the author finds that the underlying themes depicted on them through the ages are remarkably consistent. Eleanor Sims demonstrates that all these arts display similar concerns: kingship and legitimacy; the righteous exercise of princely power and the defense of national territory; and the performance of rituals and the religious duties called for by the paramount cult of the day. She describes a variety of superb works of art inside and outside these categories, noting not only how they illustrate archetypal themes but also what it is about them that is unique. She also discusses the ways that Iranian art both influenced and was influenced by invaders and neighboring lands. Boris I. Marshak discusses pre-Islamic and also Central Asian art, in particular the earliest Iranian wall paintings and their pictorial parallels in rock carvings and metalwork, and the richly painted temples and houses of Panjikent. Ernst J. Grube considers religious imagery, and provides an informative bibliography.

-This catalogue accompanies the exhibition Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, on view at the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, from August 26, 2017 through January 7, 2018.-