Mirzā ʿAli-Qoli Khoʾi The Master Illustrator of Lithographed Books in the Qajar Period

The research project that is currently conducted under my supervision by Dr. Roxana Zenhari in Göttingen aims to document the work of Mirzâ ‘Ali-Qoli Kho’i in view of a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the artist’s production as a major contribution to the visual culture in the Qajar period. My presentation is to introduce the project with particular attention to the problems we encounter, many of which are relevant for assessments of Qajar art and culture in general. First and foremost, definite informations, let alone documents, regarding the artist’s life are lacking, so that we are restricted to the contextual data supplied by his artistic production. Second, many of the items he illustrated have only been preserved in single and often fragmentary copies that are at times extremely difficult to locate. Third, we have decided tentatively to consider images bearing Mirzā ʿAli-Qoli’s signature as having actually been executed by himself, unless there is clear evidence to the opposite. Fourth, the artist’s work is also encountered in items other than books, such as newspapers and single sheet prints, many of which might not yet have been located. And fifth, the artist’s position between tradition and modernity needs to be highlighted, in particular as for the sources that inspired his work and the impact his work had on the production of subsequent artists.
As a result of our research, Mirzā ʿAli-Qoli’s emerges as one of the most influential artists of the Qajar period. He adapted the vocabulary of classical Persian painting to the modest art of lithographic illustration. He ingeniously created numerous images to scenes that had rarely, if ever, been illustrated before. And his work served as a permanent source of inspiration for later artists. To this, we may add a social dimension in that his work made the narrative imagery of Persian narrative literature available beyond the circles of the “privileged few” that had formerly had exclusive access to traditional Persian manuscript tradition. Seen in this manner, Mirzā ʿAli-Qoli Khoʾi deserves the serious attention of Islamic art historians as he contributed decisively to the visual culture of the Qajar period.