38Mirror case with a portrait of Emam ʿAli
Iran, 1850–75 Steel, glass, paper, gold, watercolor Signed: raqam-e Jaʿfar ibn Najaf-ʿAli 10.3 × 6.7 × 0.3 in. (when open: 26.2 × 17.1 × 0.7 cm) Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 504-1874 Photograph courtesy of the museum
Watch curator Fuchsia Hart’s filmed catalog entry
Watch the film on our YouTube page in high resolution.
Post-script:
Since we made this video, Fuchsia conducted further research on the artist who signed this portrait of Emam ʿAli: one Jaʿfar, son of Najaf-ʿAli. She has been able to identify him as the son of the prominent lacquer artist Najaf-ʿAli. Along with Najaf-ʿAli’s other sons and younger brother, Jaʿfar produced some of the finest examples of painting in lacquer of the nineteenth century. Also in the V&A collection is a lacquer penbox (763-1876) decorated by Mohammed Esmaʿil, younger brother of Najaf-ʿAli.
Related objects:
- Mirror box (shamayel jibi), Wereldmuseum, Amsterdam (no. 37)
Sources:
- Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali. “Icon and Meditation: Between Popular Art and Sufism in Imami Shi‘ism.” In The Art and Material Culture of Shi‘ism: Iconography and Religious Devotion in Shi‘i Islam, edited by Pedram Khosronejad, 25–45. London: I.B. Tauris, 2012.
Citation: Fuchsia Hart, “Mirror case with a portrait of Emam ʿAli.” 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.