IRAN - QAJAR FAMILY IN CONSTANTINOPLE
Album of photographs commemorating the visit of Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar to the Ottoman Court at Constantinople in 1900, 68 gelatin silver prints on 35 card sheets printed with ornamental borders, 24 larger images (c.260 x 200mm.) mounted one per page, 44 smaller images (110 x 80mm.) mounted 4 per page, all recto only, the opening image captioned in ink in Ottoman Turkish, contemporary full red morocco gilt, the covers with blind- and gilt-ruled borders enclosing an elaborate decorative border in gilt and green morocco onlays, each with a shaped centre panel cut away to reveal a brown morocco panel with gilt decoration of (upper cover) the star and crescent within ornamental frame, and (lower cover) the imperial insignia (comprising weapons, medals and flags), spine tooled in gilt, g.e., worn, spine split with minor loss and small old tape repair, oblong folio (345 x 410mm.), [1900]
Footnotes:
IMPORTANT ALBUM OF PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALI SAMI BEY, COMMEMORATING THE VISIT IN 1900 OF MUZAFFAR AL-DIN SHAH QAJAR TO THE OTTOMAN COURT IN CONSTANTINOPLE - IN A FINE CONTEMPORARY BINDING.

The album includes formal portraits of the Shah and high ranking entourage, and scenes depicting his stay in Constantinople, including arrival by train, a voyage along the Bosphorus, visits to the Dolmabahçe Palace and Ortaköy Mosque, official greeting parties, and the Yalta Palace where the Shah stayed. The photographs were taken by Ali Sami Bey, chief photographer for Sultan Abdülhamid II from 1892 until the Sultan's deposition in 1909, who 'was present for the Persian Shah's visit and produced commemorative albums almost immediately for presentation to the sultan and the Shah, among others' (A. Behdad and L. Gartin, Photography's Orientalism: New Essays on Colonial Representation, 2013).