Women Around a Samovar
Oil Painting
1860-75 (made)
1860-75 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
From the 1850s, Iranian painters began to be trained along European lines at art schools, and many produced strikingly realistic official portraits based on photographs. Isma’il Jalayir taught at the main art school in Tehran, but he stands apart from his contemporaries. He developed a distinctive personal style, and he often depicted people excluded from direct political power, such as the Sufi saint Nur ‘Ali Shah, and this group of women from the harem of a member of the ruling dynasty. It may be that his aristocratic background allowed him greater freedom as an artist.
The emotionless, posed quality of the faces suggests that the women did not sit for him as a group but were photographed individually, and Isma’il then used the images to create a large composition. The women have gathered for a tea party in a pavilion in a wooded garden. The princess standing at the centre offers a glass goblet to another princess, also standing, while the veiled woman seated between them smokes a water pipe. The other women drink tea from a samovar and listen to the music of the tar – the instrument played by the woman on the right. Isma’il’s paintings are suffused with a dreamlike, melancholy air, which has transformed the tea party into an event filled with mystery.
The emotionless, posed quality of the faces suggests that the women did not sit for him as a group but were photographed individually, and Isma’il then used the images to create a large composition. The women have gathered for a tea party in a pavilion in a wooded garden. The princess standing at the centre offers a glass goblet to another princess, also standing, while the veiled woman seated between them smokes a water pipe. The other women drink tea from a samovar and listen to the music of the tar – the instrument played by the woman on the right. Isma’il’s paintings are suffused with a dreamlike, melancholy air, which has transformed the tea party into an event filled with mystery.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Women Around a Samovar (popular title) |
Materials and techniques | Oil on canvas |
Brief description | Women Round a Samovar, Iran (probably Tehran), 1860-75. |
Physical description | Women Round a Samovar, Iran (probably Tehran), 1860-75. |
Dimensions |
|
Style | |
Marks and inscriptions | غرض نقشیست کز ما باز ماند
اسمعیل (The lām has a smaller final lām nesting in it and an initial ‘ayn or ghaynabove that, connected to a word now lost. The most likely explanation is that these are the remains of an earlier signature that the artist then chose to re-paint in a different arrangement.)
|
Gallery label |
|
Credit line | Given by Lady Janet Clerk |
Object history | The painting was given to the museum in 1941 by Lady Janet Clerk, whose husband, Sir George Clerk, was British ambassador in Istanbul from 1926-1933. Prior to the painting entering the museum's collection, Lady Clerk had lent it to the 1931 Exhibition of Persian Art held at the Royal Academy of Arts, where it was hung in the vestibule, along with other Qajar-era paintings. |
Production | signed |
Subject depicted | |
Summary | From the 1850s, Iranian painters began to be trained along European lines at art schools, and many produced strikingly realistic official portraits based on photographs. Isma’il Jalayir taught at the main art school in Tehran, but he stands apart from his contemporaries. He developed a distinctive personal style, and he often depicted people excluded from direct political power, such as the Sufi saint Nur ‘Ali Shah, and this group of women from the harem of a member of the ruling dynasty. It may be that his aristocratic background allowed him greater freedom as an artist. The emotionless, posed quality of the faces suggests that the women did not sit for him as a group but were photographed individually, and Isma’il then used the images to create a large composition. The women have gathered for a tea party in a pavilion in a wooded garden. The princess standing at the centre offers a glass goblet to another princess, also standing, while the veiled woman seated between them smokes a water pipe. The other women drink tea from a samovar and listen to the music of the tar – the instrument played by the woman on the right. Isma’il’s paintings are suffused with a dreamlike, melancholy air, which has transformed the tea party into an event filled with mystery. |
Bibliographic references |
|
Collection | |
Accession number | P.56-1941 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
Record created | June 30, 2003 |
Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest