Object Details
- Local Numbers
- FSA A.4 2.12.GN.54.02
- General
- Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
- Creator
- Sevruguin, Antoin, 1851-1933
- Names
- Islamic Archives
- Sevruguin, Antoin, 1851-1933
- Smith, Myron Bement, 1897-1970
- Collection Creator
- Smith, Myron Bement, 1897-1970
- Place
- Asia
- Iran
- Topic
- Early Photography of Iran
- Topic
- Military
- Portrait photography
- Creator
- Sevruguin, Antoin, 1851-1933
- See more items in
- Myron Bement Smith Collection
- Myron Bement Smith Collection / Series 2: The Islamic Archives / 2.12: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs / 2.12.01: Glass Plate Negatives / Glass Plate Negatives: Sets 1-61
- Biographical / Historical
- Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, leaving behind only a fraction of his large collection of glass negatives, which is currently in the Archives of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
- Extent
- 1 Glass negative (b&w, 17.5 cm. x 12.9 cm.)
- Date
- ca. 1880
- Archival Repository
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
- Identifier
- FSA.A.04, Item FSA A.4 2.12.GN.54.02
- Type
- Archival materials
- Glass negatives
- Collection Citation
- The Myron Bement Smith Collection, FSA A.04. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith.
- Arrangement
- According to Myron B. Smith handwritten document (Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information; Box 60; Folder 44: 47 P Antoine Sevruguin, glass negatives, Iran), Antoin Sevruguin's 696 glass negatives, at the time of their acquisition, were arranged into 61 boxes without any apparent organization. Today they are housed in archival document boxes, essentially duplicating the original arrangement, and stored on shelves. This glass negative was included into "Box 54."
- Collection Rights
- Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
- Bibliography
- Zayn al-`Abidin Maraghah'i, Zustände im heutigen Persien wie sie das reisebuch Ibrahim begs enthüllt, Leipzig: Verlag Von Karl W. Hierseman, 1903, p:8
- Genre/Form
- Glass negatives
- Scope and Contents
- "Regiment dressed in the Austrian model. The Austrian military appointment in Iran was requested in 1878. The instructors arrived in 1879 - along with instructors from Russia - and the regiment was established in 1880. By 1881-2, the Austrian regiment was disbanded. The photo shows the group of men in two seated and one standing row. The middle figure seems to be the higher ranking official. The hoods of the men seem to carry the emblem of Qajar Iran, the sun and the lion. Except for the high ranking figure and a few of the others in the back row, most of the men look elsewhere, not focusing on the gaze of the camera. The poses are highly irregular amongst the group, resembling a group portrait rather than a military regiment. The photographer has touched up the eyes of the figures in the back row, giving most of them a frozen and astonished look." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- - FSg curatorial research specialist remark on Antoin Sevruguin photo manipulation reads, "All of the faces are touched up with with very sharp pencil."
- - Handwritten number (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "7??."
- - Scratched handwritten number (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "747."
- - Handwritten information on slip of paper (from a 1943-1944 cash book, produced by the Bathni Brothers, Tehran) reads, "169) Soldiers or police." [Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information]
- - Myron Bement Smith handwritten caption in English reads, "47.P; Box 54.2: Soldiers or police (169)." [Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information; Box 60; Folder 44: 47 P: Antoine Sevruguin, glass negatives, Iran]
- Collection Restrictions
- Collection is open for research.
- Record ID
- ebl-1585218933221-1585218933987-3
