"The villa was built on the south side the Gulistan Palace complex on the orders of Fath Ali Shah Qajar. Later on and on the orders of Nasir al-Din Shah extensive renovations were carried out on the site and the renovations continued later in the early Pahlavi era as well. The building is currently undergoing fresh rounds of renovations. The photo depicts the structure from the far end of the front pool, carefully framing the structure in the centre of the image. The complete symmetry of the plans allows for such symmetry in the image." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- Handwritten Cyrillic signature in white (inked), probably by Antoin Sevruguin reads: "Cebpróôun."
Arrangement:
One of 62 albumen prints, un-numbered and without any apparent organization, housed in document box and stored on shelves. The 62 photographs were found sandwiched between the front and back covers of a leather-bound album of 19th. century photographs of Antoin Sevruguin. Many of these prints are duplicates of these in the album, and were certainly purchased at the same time.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2011.03 B.18
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
