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Entertainments East and West—Three Encounters between Iranians and Europeans during the Qajar Period (1786–1925)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Jennifer Scarce
Jennifer Scarce*
Affiliation:
Middle Eastern Cultures, School of Design, University of Dundee
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Abstract

The establishment of Qajar rule by Agha Muhammad Khan in 1786 initiated a period of relative stability in Iran which lasted through the nineteenth century to 1925. His two most important successors, Fath ‘Ali Shah (1797–1834) and Nasir al-Din Shah (1848–1896), during their long reigns, saw the stabilization of Iran's borders to their present limits and maintained a cautious balance in domestic policy with the religious, administrative, and commercial authorities, and in international relations with European powers. One of the main results of Qajar foreign policy was increased contact between Europeans—such as diplomats, military personnel, technical and educational experts, merchants, archaeologists, and curious travelers who spent long periods of time in Iran, and the Iranians who received them. As hospitality is one of the main features of Iranian social culture, receptions and entertainment played a major role in both formal diplomacy and at private picnics and parties.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 4: Entertainment in Qajar Persia , September 2007 , pp. 455 - 466
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2007

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References

1 For example, see Simpson, Marianna Shreve, Persian Painting and Patronage. Illustrations in a Sixteenth-century Masterpiece (New Haven, 1998)Google Scholar, pl. 42. Yusuf gives a royal banquet in honor of his marriage and pl. 52 Young Men in a Garden, folios 132a and 179b from the album of Jami's Haft Aurang commissioned by Sultan Ibrahim Mirza in Meshed in 1556.

2 See Membre, Michel, Mission to the Lord Sophy of Persia 1539–1542, trans. Morton, A.H. (London, 1993)Google Scholar, 27 for a description of the clothes of Shah Tahmasp and his retainers.

3 Nasir al-Din Shah ordered the construction of the Takiyya Dawla in 1868 in the grounds of the Golestan Palace as a permanent theatre in the round for performances of the ta‘ziya drama.

4 See Ladies Around a Samovar. Painting in oil on canvas by Isma'il Jalayrir, late nineteenth century. Victoria and Albert Museum London, inv. No. P56–1941.

5 This fascinating subject is currently under research by Bernard Hourcade and Suzanne Rigaud at Mondes Iranien et Indien, CNRS, Paris.

6 Forsat Husaini Shirazi, Bombay 1894–97.

7 See Wright, Denis, The Persians among the English. Episodes in Anglo-Persian History (London, 1985)Google Scholar for a full account of their experiences.

8 Sir Porter, Robert Ker, Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia During the Years 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820 (London, 1821–22) I: 335CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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12 Hickman, 240.

13 Hickman, 242.

14 Hickman, 81.

15 Sir Wright, Denis, The English among the Persians (London, 1977), 128–138Google Scholar. For more on the electric telegraph and other innovations, see Scarce, Jennifer, “Travels with Tiles and Telegraph from the Private Papers of Major-General Sir Robert Murdoch Smith, AARP,” Art and Archaeology Research Papers (London, 1973): 70–81Google Scholar.

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21 Wills, 114–115.

22 See Amanat, Abbas, Pivot of the Universe, Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy 1831–1896 (London and New York, 1997), 58–88Google Scholar for a survey of his education.

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25 Two of his three European travel diaries have been translated into English: Redhouse, J.W., The Diary of H. H. the Shah of Persia (London, 1874)Google Scholar and Houtoum-Schindler, A. and Norman, L. de, A Diary Kept by His Majesty the Shah of Persia During his Journey to Europe in 1878 (London, 1879)Google Scholar.

26 Illustrated London News (London, 1873), LXII: 1763–1765, 14, 21, and 28 June; LXIII: 1766–1767, 5 and 12 July.

27 Scarce, Jennifer M, “Persian Art through the Eyes of Major General Robert Murdoch Smith KCMG,” in The Enterprising Scot, ed. Calder, Jenni (Edinburgh, 1986): 131–138Google Scholar.

28 Redhouse, 167.

29 Redhouse, 210.

30 Redhouse, 212.

31 See Wright, The Persians among the English, 232–233, for the full text of this song.

32 There is a German doll of the Shah in the collections of the Museum of London (inv. No. A 8416) originally in the possession of Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, who had married Prince Frederick William of Prussia in 1858. There was also a Staffordshire pottery figure of the Shah.

33 The Scotsman, 24 July 1889.