A large portrait of Muzzafar al-Din Shah Qajar (reg. 1896-1907) standing in an interior, by the artist Razi Taleqani Sani Homayun, Qajar Persia, circa 1896-1905

A large portrait of Muzzafar al-Din Shah Qajar (reg. 1896-1907) standing in an interior, by the artist Razi Taleqani Sani Homayun

Qajar Persia, circa 1896-1905

Oil on canvas, signed in nasta'liq script lower right

180.5 x 90 cm.

The signature reads: bandeh-ye dargah razi sani' homayun, '[Painted by] the servant of the court Razi Humayun Sani' Humayun'.

Karimzadeh Tabrizi records the artist as Razi Taleqani Sani Homayun, a Qajar illuminator and painter, a master at compositions combining flowers with human faces and all kinds of animals. Not much is known about his life: he was from Taleqan and often gave his birth place in his colophons. He had his own studio in the majma' al-sanayi' (College of Arts) in Tehran, which was the gathering place for other painters and artists of different media. His recorded work is dated between AH 1299/AD 1881-82 and AH 1322/AD 1904-05. See Karimzadeh Tabrizi, The Lives & Art of Old Painters of Iran, vol. 1, 1984, pp. 206-207. Also N. D. Khalili, B. W. Robinson and T. Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands: Part Two, London 1997, pp. 184-185. no. 404, pp. 198-199, nos. 421-22 for his work in lacquer.

This painting is apparently his only recorded work in oil.