Tuesday, March 12, 2013

antoin sevruguin

veiled lady with pearls, ca. 1890


dervish


reclining woman with a turban, qajar era, late 19th century


two veiled woman with child


a beggar in tehran, iran, ca. 1880


gypsy women checking for lice, qajar era, late 19th century


jewish village girl adorned in silver jewelry, qajar era, late 19th century


women & child in the harem, qajar era, late 19th century


women in tribal costume, qajar era, late 19th century


men with lion on leash


man being buried alive as punishment


mother nursing child, qajar era, late 19th century

schoolgirls


kebab vendors on the street


persian woman


man with falcon


reclining lady reading a book, qajar era, late 19th century


dervish, 19th century


barber dyeing nasir al-din shah's mustache, 1890


opium smokers


antoin sevruguin was a photographer in iran during the reign of the qajar dynasty (1785-1925).

in 1908 cossacks of muhammad ali shah inadvertently bombed his store in suppression of zahiru'd-dawla, the constitutionalist governor of rasht. the whole street was burned, including his house. only two thousand photographs were salvaged from seven thousand. in an attempt to modernize persia reza shah pahlavi (reigned 1925-1941) confiscated the remaining traditional images.

after his death from a kidney infection sevruguin's images resurfaced. his daughter mary reclaimed a portion of the photographs, perhaps through her friendship with muhammad reza shah pahlavi. 696 negatives survive today.

it's so fascinating to see such a cross section of society - from the shah to beggars. and, of course, i am absolutely salivating over the clothing & jewelry. i don't think i've ever noticed that some of the women wore thick white stockings.  

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