Female Tumbler thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Islamic Middle East, Room 42, The Jameel Gallery

Female Tumbler

Oil Painting
1800-1830 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This painting is part of a group purchased by the V&A in 1876. At the time, it was described as being 'From the Shah's palace at Tehran'.

The painting may well have been removed from a palace erected by Fath 'Ali Shah (reigned 1797-1834). His residences were often decorated with series of oil paintings in this style, which were built into the walls. The individual paintings are usually portraits of a single, large human figure. The shapes of the figures are flattened out, but there is a great deal of decorative detail.

Many of the series painted for Fath 'Ali Shah show imaginary portraits of members of a royal harem. This painting is one of a pair in which a woman is shown inverted as she performs acrobatics.

Painting in oils was introduced to Iran after 1600, when the country had strong commercial links with Europe. Production shrank during the troubled period after the Afghan invasion of Iran in 1722. It burst back into life under the Qajar dynasty, who re-united the country in the 1780s and 1790s. Fath 'Ali Shah was the second ruler of this dynasty, and his patronage led to this revival of oil painting.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleFemale Tumbler
Materials and techniques
Oil on calico
Brief description
Full-length imaginary portrait of a female tumbler, in the style current under the Qajar ruler Fath 'Ali Shah (1797-1834).
Physical description
Full-length imaginary portrait of a female tumbler, in the style current under the Qajar ruler Fath 'Ali Shah (1797-1834).
Dimensions
  • Height: 151.5cm
  • Width: 80.4cm
Style
Gallery label
  • Jameel Gallery Female Tumblers (above case) Iran 1810–30 Qajar palaces were often decorated with series of oil paintings, which were built into the walls. Some showed portraits, real or imaginary, of the women who would have entertained the palace’s male owner. In these examples, two women are shown upside down as they perform acrobatics. Oil on calico Museum nos. 719, 720-1876 (2015)
  • Jameel Gallery Two Female Tumblers Iran 1810-30 Qajar palaces were often decorated with series of oil paintings, which were built into the walls. Some showed imaginary portraits of members of a royal harem. In these examples, two women are shown inverted as they perform acrobatics. Oil on calico Museum nos. 719, 720-1876(July 2006 - 2014)
  • Painting. Oil on calico. A lady tumbling. From the Shah's palace at Tehran. Persian. Early 19th century. H. 5ft, W. 2ft 6.5in. Bought 1l 2s.(Inventory of Art Objects 1876-78)
Object history
When the painting was purchased, it was described as being, "From the Shah's palace at Tehran."

NOTE: This painting was not shown at the first venue of the Palace and Mosque exhibition (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC).
Historical context
"When a new dynasty, the Qajars, emerged at the end of the eighteenth century, portraits in oils began to assume a highly political function. The founder of the dynasty, Agha Muhammad (died 1797), had been castrated as youth by his father's enemies, and his successor, Fath 'Ali Shah (ruled 1797-1834), was keen to emphasize his masculinity. As a way of doing this, he commissioned numerous portraits of himself that showed him as slim-waisted, youthful and heavily bearded. Some were sent abroad as diplomatic gifts, and many were placed in his palaces, where they were flanked by paintings showing either an enormous entourage, including many of his sons and grandsons, or harem women engaged in the entertainment of their lord."
Tim Stanley, Palace and Mosque, p. 72
Subjects depicted
Summary
This painting is part of a group purchased by the V&A in 1876. At the time, it was described as being 'From the Shah's palace at Tehran'.

The painting may well have been removed from a palace erected by Fath 'Ali Shah (reigned 1797-1834). His residences were often decorated with series of oil paintings in this style, which were built into the walls. The individual paintings are usually portraits of a single, large human figure. The shapes of the figures are flattened out, but there is a great deal of decorative detail.

Many of the series painted for Fath 'Ali Shah show imaginary portraits of members of a royal harem. This painting is one of a pair in which a woman is shown inverted as she performs acrobatics.

Painting in oils was introduced to Iran after 1600, when the country had strong commercial links with Europe. Production shrank during the troubled period after the Afghan invasion of Iran in 1722. It burst back into life under the Qajar dynasty, who re-united the country in the 1780s and 1790s. Fath 'Ali Shah was the second ruler of this dynasty, and his patronage led to this revival of oil painting.
Bibliographic references
  • Diba, Layla S. (Ed.) Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, 1785-1925 London, 1998 pp.210-211, Cat.60
  • Tim Stanley, Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East, London, V&A Publications, 2004; p. 72, plate 88.
  • Persian Royal Portraiture and the Qajars, Robinson, B.W., Qajar Iran, Mazda, California, 1983,1992
  • Persian Oil Paintings, Robinson, B.W., V & A Small Colour Book 20, 1977
  • Illustrated in 'Iranian Textiles' by Jennifer Wearden and Patricia L Baker, V&A Publishing, 2010, fig.13 page 32.
  • Moya Carey, Persian Art. Collecting the Arts of Iran for the V&A, London, 2017, p.112.
Collection
Accession number
719-1876

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Record createdJune 30, 2003
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