*A SET OF THREE PORCELAIN BOWLS AND SAUCERS WITH 'FAMILLE ROSE' DECORATION FROM THE QAJAR PRINCE MAS'UD MIRZA ZILL AL-SULTAN'S SERVICE
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
China and Persia, dated 1297 AH (1879-80)

Comprising three porcelain bowls and matching dishes, two large and one small, each one with typical Guangdong famille rose decoration and composition, the interior of the bowls embellished with bright polychrome colours and lobed medallions filled with Chinese interior scenes with figures alternated with floral bouquets and birds, butterflies and fruits against a gold ground, the rim fully gilt, the exterior of the bowls and the interior of the matching dishes with similar compositions with the addition of calligraphic roundels filled with golden ownership inscriptions, the exterior of the dishes plain, base unmarked, the two large bowls 36.5cm diam. and 15.5cm high; the two large dishes between 33cm and 36.5cm diam. and 7cm high; the smaller bowl 17.5cm diam. and 7.5cm high; lastly, the smaller dish 24cm diam. and 4cm high.

Inscription:
فرمایش حضرت اسعد امجد ارفع اشرف والا سلطان مسعود میرزا یمین الدوله ظل السلطان ۱۲۹۷
Commissioned by His Excellency, the auspicious, the most glorious, the most high, the most noble, the eminent Sultan Mas'ud Mirza Yamin al-Dawlah Zill al-Sultan, 1297 AH

This set belongs to the same important European private collection of a similar set we successfully sold in these Rooms last October (25 October 2019, lot 221). Several porcelain sets and vessels from this well-known service have been offered and sold in the London auction market in recent years, please see Sotheby's London, 25 October 2017, lot 221; 25 April 2018, lot 199; and Bonham's London, 8 October 2009, lot 157; 25 April 2017, lot 177.

The inscriptions in the golden roundels on this set identify the vessels as part of a much larger service commissioned by Prince Mas'ud Mirza Yamin al-Dawlah Zill al-Sultan (1850 – 1918), the eldest son of Naser al-Din Shah (1831 – 1896). Although he was the son of the ruling Shah, his mother was a commoner. This link cost him the much longed-for crown as it excluded him from being the next in line to the Qajar throne, a role inherited by his younger brother Muzaffar al-Din. Instead, Mas'ud Mirza was appointed governor of Isfahan in 1866, where he ruled almost uninterruptedly for 33 years (Heidi Walcher, In the Shadow of the King: Zill al-Sultan and Isfahan under the Qajars, London, 2008, p. 35). In 1870, Naser al-Din granted him the title of Zill al-Sultan (the Shadow of the King). From then on, Mas'ud Mirza turned Isfahan, the largest economic and trading centre in Iran at the time, into his own quasi-royal dominion.

Nine years later, Mas'ud Mirza commissioned his own vessels from the same kiln that had produced his father’s 1865 service, adding unique features which make them clearly attributable to him. Indeed, each vessel is marked with a gold roundel with a golden epigraphic inscription clearly mentioning his name, Mas'ud Mirza, and title, Zill al-Sultan. Moreover, his choice of background colour, a tinge of grey–mauve, is characteristic of this production and hadn't been seen in Iran before his time (Daniel Nadler, China to Order – Focusing on the 19th century and surveying polychrome export porcelain produced during the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1908), France, 2001, p. 171).