10Tombstone of Fath ʿAli Shah for his tomb in the shrine of Fatemeh Maʿsumeh at Qom
Iran, Tehran, 1250/1834 Stone, possibly onyx 85.83 × 51.97 × 4.72 in. (218 × 132 × 12 cm) Museum of the Holy Shrine, Qom, no. 2017 Photograph by Kianoosh Motaghedi, 2023
Fath ʿAli Shah Qajar (r. 1798–1834) was a great patron of the shrine of Fatemeh Maʿsumeh in Qom (map). From the very start of his reign right up until his death, he ordered and funded many improvements and additions to the shrine. As Fath ʿAli Shah grew older and unwell, and following the death of his son ʿAbbas Mirza (d. 1833), he began to plan for his own death and chose to be buried close to Fatemeh. The shah was not the first ruler to be buried in the shrine and in fact four Safavid shahs had been buried there before him (see no. 20 for the tomb of Shah ʿAbbas II). Following Fath ʿAli Shah’s precedent, his successor Mohammad Shah (r. 1834–48) would also be buried in the shrine complex.
Right before he died in 1834, Fath ʿAli Shah ordered the preparation of his tomb within the shrine for his burial (map) (fig. 1). The interior’s walls were (and still are) decorated with lively carved stucco, but the focus of the space was the shah’s cenotaph in the center of the tomb.
A major aspect of the preparations of the tomb was the carving of the shah’s tombstone. The concept and design of the stone were revolutionary. At the center of the composition, we see the shah standing in full royal dress, wearing the distinctive Qajar crown, and surrounded by angels (fig. 2). This portrait was produced by ʿAbdallah Khan, who was then the head artist and architect at the Qajar court. He is best known for the monumental Negarestan Palace mural of Fath ʿAli Shah and his court, which now survives only in copies.
In addition to the portrait of the shah, the stone bears many inscriptions, one of which, beside the shah’s head, indicates that he was the composer of a poetic inscription. Other evidence also suggests that he could have had a role in the concept for the design (fig. 3). The shah may therefore have been the originator of the portrait tombstone that became widespread after his reign and is still seen across Iran today. Fath ʿAli Shah’s great-grandson Naser al-Din Shah (r. 1848–96), for example, is also memorialized by a portrait tombstone now in the Golestan Palace.
The shah’s tombstone was probably removed from the tomb chamber after 1979. It can now be seen with other tombstones from the complex in the shrine museum (see this photograph in Google Maps).
Sources:
- Godard, André. The Art of Iran. London: Allen & Unwin, 1965. [Internet Archive]
- Modarressi Tabatabaʾi, Hossein. Torbat-e pākān: ās̲ār va banāhā-ye qadīm-e maḥdūdah-ye kunūnī-i Dār al-Muʾminīn-e Qom. Qom: Chapkhaneh-ye Mehr, 2535/1976.
Citation: Fuchsia Hart, “Tombstone of Fath ʿAli Shah for his tomb in the shrine of Fatemeh Maʿsumeh at Qom.” 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.