Iranian Visual Culture and Kingship Monumental Qajar Textile Reviving Safavid Imperial Iconography of Shah Abbas I Nineteenth Century

Iran Persia Qajar Tapestry

Non-Paper Memorabilia

Hand painted Persian textile depicting Shah Abbas I, nineteenth century, a monumental example of Qajar period revivalist visual culture that reinterprets Safavid imperial iconography to articulate Persian kingship, martial virtue, and historical memory. Centered on one of the most mythologized rulers in Iranian history, the composition presents a continuous figural narrative in which Shah Abbas I appears mounted on horseback in a royal hunt, sword drawn as he confronts a lion, while turbaned cavalry attendants bearing spears observe. A secondary vignette shows the Shah pursuing a wild boar, reinforcing long standing Persian associations between sovereignty, mastery over nature, and military prowess. Rendered in a frontal, highly legible style with flattened perspective and rhythmic repetition, the imagery translates the visual language of Persian manuscript illustration into large scale textile form, reflecting nineteenth century Qajar engagement with earlier Safavid models of centralized authority and dynastic legitimacy.

Hand painted Persian figural textile. Qajar period, nineteenth century. Approximately 117.5 x 51 inches (9.8 x 4.25 feet).

The upper register introduces a martial tableau of Persian warriors confronting Indian soldiers mounted on elephants, imagery that evokes enduring visual memory of imperial expansion and recalls narratives associated with Nader Shah’s eighteenth century campaigns against the Mughal Empire. In the Qajar period, particularly in the later nineteenth century, Safavid rulers such as Shah Abbas were repeatedly invoked across painting, lacquer, and textile production as symbols of national continuity and restored sovereignty. This textile operates within that historicist framework, layering Safavid royal imagery with later martial memory to construct a composite vision of Persian power across centuries. Minor edge tears including one approximately 1 inch and three approximately 3 inches within the border and along the edge, not affecting the central figural imagery; colors remain bold and composition visually strong. Overall condition: very good.

Item #14664

Price: $1,200.00