3Door endowed by Fath ʿAli Shah to the zarih (screen) of Emam Reza in his tomb at Mashhad
Iran, 1233/1817–18 and 1270/1853–54 Currently set in the base of the dome in the tomb of Emam Reza, Shrine of Emam Reza, Mashhad Photograph after Sykes, The Glory of the Shia World, 1910, p. 255
Just as we have seen with zarihs (cat. no. 2), Fath ʿAli Shah Qajar gave a number of doors to the shrines of Iran, including those in Mashhad and Qom. In doing so, he was following a precedent set by many rulers before him. Both Shah ʿAbbas I (r. 1588–1629) and Nader Shah (r. 1736–47) also gave precious doors to the shrine of the eighth Emam.
This door is recorded as originally bearing a poem composed in praise of it by the court poet Fath ʿAli Khan Saba, whose works appear on a number of objects produced at Fath ʿAli Shah’s court. The last line of the poem provides the date for the composition of the verses and the likely date for the creation of the object: 1233/1817–18. It also names Fath ʿAli Shah as the patron.
Contemporary descriptions, such as that given by court writer Mohammad Nadim Barfurushi, tell us that the door had a wooden core lavishly covered with sheets of gold and in turn inlaid with jewels, including diamonds, emeralds and rubies. Once the door was completed in Tehran, it was taken to Mashhad with much pomp and ceremony. It was then installed into the foot end of Emam Reza’s zarih (map), in the presence of Mashhad’s most significant religious figures. Only a few decades later, in 1265/1848, the door would fall victim to the upheaval in Mashhad caused by the uprising led by the governor of Khorasan, Hasan Khan Salar, in support of the Qajar prince Bahram Mirza. The door was looted from the tomb and stripped of its precious metal and gems. In 1270/1853–54, it was recreated and placed back in the zarih once more.
The life of this door is representative of the paradox faced by large Shiʿi shrines: high levels of patronage increased the prosperity of the shrine while simultaneously making it a target of looting. Today, the door, which is still known as Fath ʿAli Shah’s door, is set in the base of the tomb’s dome, above the zarih (fig. 1).
Sources:
- Mohammad Nadim Barfurushi, Mohfarreḥ al-Qolūb. British Library, London, Or. 3499.
- Saba, Fath ʿAli Khan Kashani, and Mohammad ʿAli Najati. Dīvān-e ashʿār-e Malek al-Shoʿarāʾ Fath ʿAli Khan Saba. Tehran: Eqbal, 1341 Sh/1962.
- Sykes, Percy. The Glory of the Shia World. London: Macmillan and Co., 1910. [Internet Archive]
Citation: Fuchsia Hart, “Door endowed by Fath ʿAli Shah to the zarih (screen) of Emam Reza in his tomb at Mashhad.” Catalog entry in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine, directed and edited by Keelan Overton. 33 Arches Productions, January 15, 2025. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online.