Fath Ali Khan

Description

Fath-Ali-Khan was the second son of Ghavam-Al-Molk Shirazi and the grandson of Haj Ebrahim-Khan, the prime minister of Agha-Mohammad-Khan, the founder of Qajar dynasty.
He started his governmental service as a “Mostowfi” the supervisor of budget in several cities including Hamadan and Qazvin. In the year 1274 H. he was endowed with the title “Sahebdivan” and became the governor of Khuzestan province.
Later in 1288 H. he was appointed as the procurator and the minister at the crown-prince Mozaffar Al Din Mirza’s court in Tabriz.
Because of the importance of his father’s influential role, both in the court of Fath-Ali-shah and also in southern province of Fars, he married the Shah’s 44th daughter, Khorram Bahar Khanom who had the title “Ehteram-Al-Dawleh”.
His last position was the governor of Khorasan province. He was also the deputy-custodian of the holy shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad.
This full-size painting shows Fath-Ali-Khan in his last years of his life. Beside the skillfully execution of the face, details of his long Kashmere gown with lively and brilliant pearls on it is outstanding.
The Kashmere gown, decorated with pearls on the robe of honor, was regarded as a highly respected gift, which was only given by the king to a newly appointed high-ranked person.