A PERSIAN RECONCILIATION DEED (MOSALEHEH NAMEH) IN OFFICIAL FARMAN FORMAT
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE LONDON COLLECTOR
Iran, dated 15 Shawwal 1199 AH (21 August 1785 AD)

Persian manuscript on joined scrolled Russian cream paper, with several lines in black ink pseudo-divani script almost bridging into shikasteh nasta'liq, titles in red ink naskh script, notes in red, bearing various seals and signatures witnessing and attesting the resolution of the long-standing ownership's dispute started on 4 Sha’ban 1180 AH (5 January 1767 AD) between Mirza Mohammad Khan Biglarbeigi, the vizir of the Fars province, and a private woman, Bibi Homayoun, regarding a large group of properties and farms of a deceased estate near Fassa in the Fars province, 150cm x 26.2cm.

Provenance: purchased from the Late Oliver Hoare in 1983.

The present deed was issued during the reign of Jafar Khan Zand (r. 1785 - 1789), the seventh ruler of the Zand dynasty in Iran. The Biglarbeigi family were close associates of Karim Khan Zand, the dynasty's founder, and held important positions in the administration of Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Fars, and Kirman provinces throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The administrative hierarchy enforced by the Zands bifurcated into officials appointed by the royal entourage, including the king and the military high ranks, and the local hereditary grandees. In most disputes, the official position and tribal military power led to the consolidation of land ownership. A landowner without political power would therefore often lose his property to powerful officeholders or tribal chiefs. Against a backdrop of approaching civil war, however, land disputes were still important enough to be put through the judicial system with the full might of the law.

Though presented as a 'reconciliation' deed, the present document is heavily tipped in favour of the Fars province vizir. The number of witnesses attests to the august nature of such a settlement. It is also noteworthy that the land in question was the property of ‘The Late Bibi Homayun Sultan, daughter of the Late Mirza Mohammad Khan Biglarbeigi’, consolidating the Zand - Biglarbeigi connection, but also shedding light on inheritance issues and land ownership policies for a woman living in 18th-century Zand Iran. Lastly, the paper of the present document is interesting in its physical properties. Pursuant to an edict issued by Catherine the Great in 1778, all Russian paper bore a stamped numbered mark to testify to the quality of the paper, with no. 1 being the highest. Our scroll features the number 7, indicating that the Russian paper exported to Persia was of rather utilitarian, humble quality.