Section of a pictorial scroll depicting the coronation procession of Muhammad Shah Qajar, Persia, Qajar, dated 1835

447 by 21.5cm. (full size of entire scroll)
Watercolour on paper, backed with blue paper and beige cotton
Catalogue Note:

This highly unusual and finely painted scroll depicts the royal procession of Muhammad Shah Qajar on the occasion of his coronation. It is dated the year after the event took place but clearly shows the Shah (labelled below his horse) riding ahead of other members of the Qajar elite, preceded by a long train of ceremonial officers and officials, both mounted and on foot, including musketeers, axe-bearers, a horse-drawn gun carriage, a marching band, musicians mounted on camels and a carriage bearing the Qajar royal emblem of the lion and sun, drawn by two horses.