Persepolis (Iran), Gate of All Lands: Colossal Sculptures Depicting Heads of a Bull and Two Columns of Stone

Object Details

Topic: Ancient Near Eastern Art; Animals in art; Architecture; Relief (Sculpture)

See more items in: Ernst Herzfeld Papers; Ernst Herzfeld Papers / Series 4: Photographic Files / 4.5: Photo File 5: "Persepolis" / 4.5.3: Vol. 3

Biographical / Historical: Antoin Sevruguin (1830s-1933) was an official photographer of the Imperial Court of Iran whose commercial photography studio was one of the most successful in Tehran from the late 1870s to about 1934. The astonishing range of Antoin Sevruguin's photographs, and the prolific output of the studio, provides today's viewer with an important resource for examining the cultural histories and hierarchical elements of Iranian society. They assist the scholar in studying architectural sites that may have been damaged or destroyed, or are unavailable for first-hand investigation. Increasingly, the prints are valued for their artistic elements that may sometimes overshadow their documentary value. Most significantly, Sevruguin's images form part of an ongoing history that links a distant past and place to the present.

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

Collection Citation: Ernst Herzfeld Papers. FSA.A.06. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Ernst Herzfeld, 1946.

Arrangement: The Archive contains Herzfeld's glass negatives which he arranged by general categories into 16 separate Photo files, irrespective of the number on the negative. He also collected photographic prints from many sources for study purposes. So far as possible, Joseph Upton has identified and placed these prints in the appropriate Photo file.

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

Existence and Location of Copies: Glass negative numbered FSA A.4 2.12.GN.38.03; available in Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.12: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs.; Gelatin silver print numbered FSA A.4 2.12.Sm.24; available in Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.12: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs.

Scope and Contents: Additional information from Finding Aid reads, "Subseries 4.5: Photo File 5 (3vols.). 'Persepolis.' Subseries 4.5.3: Vol.3, Image No. 4: Persepolis. Entrance, lions."; - On recto of the print, handwritten number (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "819."; - On recto of the print, scratched handwritten number (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "1661."