English: Dimensions: 31.8 x 19.5 cm (12 1/2 x 7 11/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks:

Signed: Abu'l-Hasan naqqashbashi Kashani Ghaffari inscription: Shāhanshāhī muqarrab al-khāqān muʾtamin al-sulṭān Mīrzā Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn mustawfī-i khāṣṣa dar sinn-i chihil va chahār sāligī raqm-i Abū al-Ḥasan Naqqāsh-Bāshī Kāshānī Ghaffārī sana 1274

Royal intimate of the emperor, confidante of the sultan, Mirza Zayn al-ʿAbidin, comptroller of the crown at the age of 44. Painted by Abu al-Hasan Kashani Ghaffari, the Chief Painter, [in] the year 1857–58

In this unfinished painting, the sitter kneels within a shallow space and faces the viewer with a penetrating gaze. Although European fashions had entered Persian clothing and furniture by the middle of the nineteenth century, this figure’s garments and posture are staunchly traditional. He wears the tall Astrakhan hat favored by the Qajar court and two long robes. The outer cloak is broadly sketched in, but the blue inner robe is carefully rendered in a moiré pattern. The details of the striped sash and the complicated piping on the robes suggest the fine woolen fabrics woven in Kirman, which Qajar government policy aimed to promote over Kashmir imports at the time this painting was created. The sitter’s two hands—with henna-stained nails—are tucked into his sash, along with two rolled documents.