Portrait of a Persian Woman

Object Details

Local Numbers: 58.G.30 [Myron Bement Smith collection. Freer/Sackler Archives, No. A.4.17] [17(A8)] FSA A.4 2.12.Up.30
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

See more items in: Myron Bement Smith Collection; Myron Bement Smith Collection / Series 2: The Islamic Archives / 2.12: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs / 2.12.03: Sevruguin Upton Prints / Upton Prints: 30-39

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, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.

Archival Repository: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Type: Archival materials; Gelatin silver prints; Photographic prints; Studio portraits

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: Gelatin silver prints arranged in sequential number following Joseph Upton's handwritten list of captions, and ultimately organized by Myron B. Smith into subject categories (royalty, people, executions, criminals, punishment, architecture). This print is in the following subject category: People.

Collection Rights: Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.

Scope and Contents: Joseph Upton purchased 66 black-and-white gelatin silver photoprints in 1928 from Antoin Sevruguin in Tehran (Iran), and subsequently donated them to the Committee for Islamic Culture, as reported in their official minutes of October 24, 1953.; - On recto of the print, scratched handwritten number (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "342."; - On verso of the print, handwritten number (penciled) reads, "155."; - On verso of the print, handwritten caption (penciled, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) in French reads, "Dame persane."