Iranian Military History Persian Soldiers during the Late Qajar Era Circa 1910s

Persian Soldiers

Photograph

Brown Brothers. Photograph of Persian soldiers, circa 1910s, documents military personnel in Iran during the final decades of Qajar rule. The assembled men wear a range of uniforms, coats, trousers, boots, and distinctive forms of headwear, preserving evidence of military appearance at a time when Iran’s armed forces included regular, gendarmerie, Cossack, and locally organized elements. The image supports research into Qajar military history, uniform development, state authority, and the circulation of photographs of Iran through international commercial picture archives. Because the men are identified only by the verso inscription “Persian Soldiers,” their specific unit and location cannot be established from the available evidence.

Original photographic print, circa 1910s, measuring approximately 6 × 7½ inches. The composition shows a substantial group of men posed together in military or paramilitary dress. Variations in tunics, hats, and other clothing are visible across the group, offering comparative evidence of rank, unit affiliation, or uneven standardization, although no precise distinctions should be assigned without further identifying information. Pencil inscription on the verso reads “Persian Soldiers.” The photograph comes from the Brown Brothers Photo Archive, a New York stock-photography enterprise founded in 1904 that assembled and distributed a broad range of historical and contemporary images; this provenance documents the print’s later commercial circulation but does not confirm that a Brown Brothers staff photographer made the original exposure.

The proposed 1910s date places the image within the reign of Ahmad Shah Qajar, the final Qajar ruler, whose rule lasted from 1909 until the dynasty’s removal in 1925. Iran’s military institutions during this period were fragmented among forces with differing training, equipment, and foreign influence, making photographs of assembled personnel useful visual evidence of how military identity appeared in practice. One upper corner is rounded, with light handling wear and no reported loss affecting the central image. Good to very good. A clearly identified group portrait preserving the varied appearance of Persian military personnel during the closing phase of Qajar rule.

Item #16943

Price: $220.00