Finding Aid for Album fotografico della Persia, 1860
Beth Ann Guynn
Descriptive Summary
Title: Album fotografico della Persia
Date (inclusive): 1860
Number: 2012.R.18
Creator/Collector:
Pesce, Luigi,
1827-1864
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
(2 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The album of photographs taken by Luigi
Pesce contains 21 views of Tehran and environs, followed by 21 views of ancient Persian
sites including the Achaemenid ruins of Persepolis, the Achaemenid tombs and Sasanian
reliefs at Naqsh-i Rustam near Persepolis, and the Sasanian reliefs at Tāq-e Bostān. Pesce
took the earliest documented photographs of Persepolis and some of the earliest photographs
of Tehran.
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Language: Collection material is in Italian
Biographical/Historical Note
Luigi Pesce (1827-1864) a Neapolitan lieutenant colonel and amateur photographer, was
employed by Nasir al-Din Shah, beginning in 1848, to modernize the Persian army, and
eventually became commander-in-chief of its infantry. Pesce took the earliest documented
photographs of Persepolis (and some of the earliest photographs of Tehran), for which he was
awarded an Honorable Mention at the 1862 International Exhibition in London.
Photography was introduced into Persia (modern Iran) in 1844 by the Frenchman Jules
Richard, whom the Shah had charged with the task of recording the ancient Achaemenid site of
Persepolis. When Richard failed to carry out the task, Pesce took the initiative, and, as he
recorded in the album that he presented to the Shah in 1858 (now in the Golestan Palace
collection, Tehran), "There has yet been no one from the West who has captured the images of
the ruins by photography. Therefore, it is for the first time that your servant took
photographs of the reliefs and ruined edifices of Takht-e-Jamshid and presented them to His
Majesty."
Luigi Pesce also presented an album of his photographs to Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson
(1810-1895) at the conclusion of Rawlinson's brief tenure as British ambassador to the Qajar
court (1859-1860). Rawlinson was a British East India Company army officer, diplomat,
Orientalist, and philologist who has been called the "father of Assyriology." He was posted
first in India and then to the Persian court, beginning in 1835. There he transcribed and
translated the trilingual cuneiform texts that Darius the Great caused to be inscribed on
the rock of Behistun at Tāq-e Bostān. Rawlinson's "Memoir on the Babylonian and Assyrian
Inscriptions," published in the
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
of Great Britain and Ireland
, volume 14 (1851), which comprises a copy of the
Babylonian inscriptions at Behistun in the original characters along with an interlined
transliteration and a Latin translation, is considered to be his most significant
contribution to the field of Assyriology.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Luigi Pesce Album fotografico della Persia, 1860, The Getty Research Institute, Los
Angeles, Accession no. 2012.R.18.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012r18
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 2012. Rawlinson portrait gift of Manoutchehr Eskandari-Qajar in 2014.
Processing History
The collection was cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2012. Additional material integrated in
2016.
Digitized Material
The collection was digitized by the repository and the images can be viewed online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2012r18
Scope and Content of Collection
The album of salted paper and albumen photographic prints contains 21 views of Tehran and
environs, followed by 21 views of ancient Persian sites, all of which Pesce made for his
employer, Nasir al-Din Shah. Although Pesce first presented his photographs to the Shah, in
this album he has "repurposed" a set of prints as a personal gift to Sir Henry Rawlinson.
Just as the monuments, edifices, and subjects of the bas-reliefs Pesce depicted for the Shah
can be seen to relate to the Qajar court, so can specific images included in the present
album be seen to allude to Rawlinson's own achievments. Thus, the inclusion of a cuneiform
inscription acknowledges Rawlinson's scholarly interests and contributions, while
bas-reliefs of soldiers and of Darius's army flanking the great staircase at Persepolis can
be seen as allusions to his vital military role in Persia, including his mustering and
training of the Guran, a Kurdish mountain tribe.
The views of Tehran and environs include historic monuments such as the Mogul mausoleum of
Ilkahan Uljāytū Khudābandah, known as the Dome of Soltaniyeh; views of the city's gates; and
Qajar buildings such as Golestan Palace and the military school, headquarters, and
residence. Many of these structures have either been radically altered or no longer exist,
such as the three city gates documented in the album. Several views of the Golestan Palace
record buildings and architectural and decorative details that were destroyed or modified in
the course of subsequent restorations. Other photographs, such as the view of the military
school, appear to be the only visual documentations of Qajar buildings that are no longer
extant.
Ancient Persian sites depicted in the album include the Achaemenid ruins of Persepolis, the
Achaemenid tombs and Sasanian reliefs at Naqsh-i Rustam near Persepolis, and the Sasanian
reliefs at Tāq-e Bostān in Kirmānshāhān province. These photographs are not only the
earliest photographs of these sites, but the specific subjects of the reliefs chosen for
inclusion can be seen as illustrating the symbolic relationship between the mid-ninteenth
century Qajar court and the ancient Persian Empire.
Included with the album is a brief handwritten note regarding H. C. Rawlinson written on
the letterhead of the Commander-in-Chief in India and signed: Cin in C India 1921 (i.e.
General Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson, and son of H. C. Rawlinson).
The album is quarter-bound in leather with floral Qajar-style lacquer covers. The front and
back paste-downs, also in the Qajar style, have central cartouches depicting a bird among
flowers.
The free front endpaper contains a handwritten title: Album Fotografico / della / Persia /
Compilato dal Sig.r Luigi Pesce, Tenente Colonnello / Instruttore d'Infanteria al servizio
dello Shah / Teheran.
The dedication on the flyleaf reads: A Sua Eccellenza / Il Signor Generale Enrico Rawlinson
/ Ministro Plenipotenziario di Sua Maestà la Regina / d'Inghilterra / et. et. et. / presso /
La corte dello Shah di Persia / Teheran 12 Maggio 1860 / In omaggio.
Captions are handwritten on the mounts in Italian. The photographs are signed in the
negative: L. Pesce.
Also included in the collection is a lithograph portrait of Rawlinson by an unidentified
artist.
Arrangement
Arranged in a single series:
Album fotografico della Persia, 1860.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke, Sir
(Portraits)
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Kākh-i Gulistān (Tehran,
Iran)
Subjects - Topics
Sculpture, Achaemenid -- Iran -- Persepolis
Relief (Sculpture), Ancient -- Iran -- Persepolis
Achaemenian inscriptions
Relief (Sculpture), Ancient -- Iran -- Naqsh-i Rustam
Cuneiform inscriptions
Art, Sassanid
Subjects - Places
Iran -- Antiquities
Tāq-e Bostān site (Iran) -- Antiquities
Bisutun Site (Iran) -- Antiquities
Sulāţniāyah (Zanjān, Iran)
Tehran (Iran) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Naqsh-i Rustam (Iran)
Persepolis (Iran) -- Antiquities
Genres and Forms of Material
Salted paper prints -- Iran -- 19th century
Albumen prints -- Iran -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- Iran -- 19th century
Photographs, Original
Contributors
Pesce, Luigi,
1827-1864
Luigi Pesce Album fotografico della Persia,
1860
Luigi Pesce Album fotografico della Persia,: 1860
Arrangement
In original order.
page Front paste-down
2012.R.18-fp
Front paste-down
Scope and Content Note
Decorated in Persian style, with a central floral cartouche.
page Free front endpaper
2012.R.18-ffe
Title page
Scope and Content Note
Handwritten title: Album fotografico della Persia : / Compilato dal Sig.r Luigi
Pesce, Tenente Colonnello / Instruttore d'Infanteria al servizio dello Shah /
Teheran.
page Fly leaf
2012.R.18-fl
Dedication
Scope and Content Note
The handwritten dedication reads: A Sua Eccellenza / Il Signor Generale Enrico
Rawlinson / Ministro Plenipotenziario di Sua Maestā la Regina / d'Inghilterra / et.
et. et. / presso / La corte dello Shah di Persia / Teheran 12 Maggio 1860 / In
omaggio.
page 1 recto
2012.R.18-1r
Porta del governo a Teheran
page 2 recto
2012.R.18-2r
Entrata del Palazzo Reale a Teheran
page 3 recto
2012.R.18-3r
Trono d'alabastro a Teheran
page 4 recto
2012.R.18-4r
Prima corte del Palazzo Reale a Teheran
page 5 recto
2012.R.18-5r
2da corte, e Salone d'Inverno dello Shah
page 6 recto
2012.R.18-6r
Trono detto de Pavone a Teheran
page 7 recto
2012.R.18-7r
3a corte del Palazzo Reale a Teheran
page 8 recto
2012.R.18-8r
Gran salone di ricezione nella 3a corte a Teheran
page 9 recto
2012.R.18-9r
Grande cerimonia del salam al 10 dell'Anno
Scope and Content Note
A view into the royal Qajar palace complex during the Nowruz or New Year's
celebrations shows the Shah seated on a throne with crowds of officials and two
elephants in attendance.
page 10 recto
2012.R.18-10r
Porta della cittadella a Teheran
page 11 recto
2012.R.18-11r
Bazar Emyr a Teheran
page 12 recto
2012.R.18-12r
Tomba del Kan di Kiva a Teheran
page 13 recto
2012.R.18-13r
Scuola militare a Teheran
page 14 recto
2012.R.18-14r
Nizamia presso Teheran
page 15 recto
2012.R.18-15r
Davuddie presso Teheran
page 16 recto
2012.R.18-16r
Quartiere delle donne a Davuddie
page 17 recto
2012.R.18-17r
Montagne Alburz prese dal villaggio di Gulack, Teheran
page 18 recto
2012.R.18-18r
Casa di campagna dell' ambasciata russa a Teheran
page 19 recto
2012.R.18-19r
Porta nuova a Teheran
page 20 recto
2012.R.18-20r
Grande moschea in ruina a Sultanie
page 21 recto
2012.R.18-21r
Piccola moschea in ruina a Sultanie
page 22 recto
2012.R.18-22r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Depicts a relief of a lion attacking a gazelle.
page 23 recto
2012.R.18-23r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Shows a bas-relief on an inner wall depicting two Achmaemenid soldiers holding
lances.
page 24 recto
2012.R.18-24r
Inscrizione cuneiforme a Persepolis
page 25 recto
2012.R.18-25r
Ruine a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
View of walls, one with bas-reliefs.
page 26 recto
2012.R.18-26r
Ruine a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Ruins with four columns.
page 27 recto
2012.R.18-27r
Tomba sulla rocca a Persepolis
page 28 recto
2012.R.18-28r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Two registers of processions (and part of a third showing legs only) moving from left
to right: a tree; men bearing gifts; and men with horses and donkeys.
page 29 recto
2012.R.18-29r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
One and a half registers of processions moving from left to right.
page 30 recto
2012.R.18-30r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Two registers of processions (and part of a third showing legs only) moving from
right to left: trees; men bearing gifts; and men with rams.
page 31 recto
2012.R.18-31r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Two registers of processions (and part of a third showing legs only) carved along a
stairway and moving from right to left with trees and men bearing gifts.
page 32 recto
2012.R.18-32r
Ruine a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Shows the pair of Lamassus sporting human heads on the western entrance of the Gate
of All Nations with two columns and the back side of the western entrance in the
background.
page 33 recto
2012.R.18-33r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Bas-relief on a column depicting a man killing a rampant griffin.
page 34 recto
2012.R.18-34r
Entrata principale a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Shows the pair of Lamassus sporting wings and Persian beards on the eastern entrance
of the Gate of All Nations.
page 35 recto
2012.R.18-35r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Two registers of processions (and part of a third showing legs only) moving from
right to left with trees; men bearing gifts; and men with pony carts and with
oxen.
page 36 recto
2012.R.18-36r
Bassi-relievi a Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Two registers of processions (and part of a third showing legs only) moving from
right to left: trees; men bearing gifts; and men with camels and oxen.
page 37 recto
2012.R.18-37r
Bassi-relievi a Naksu-Rustem, Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
View of the equestrian combat bas-relief at Naqsh-i Rustam probably from the time of
Shapur II.
page 38 recto
2012.R.18-38r
Tomba di Darius a Naksu-Rustem, Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Rock-cut tomb of Darius I (Darius the Great) at Naqsh-i Rustam.
page 39 recto
2012.R.18-39r
Bassi-relievi a Naksu-Rustem, Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Cliff relief near the tombs of Darius I and Xerxes depicting Ardashir I receiving a
diadem, symbolizing sovereignty, from the god Hormzid. Both figures are on
horseback.
page 40 recto
2012.R.18-40r
Bassi-relievi a Naksu-Rustem, Persepolis
Scope and Content Note
Pre-Achaemenid cliff relief depicting Bahram II and his court.
page 41 recto
2012.R.18-41r
Bassi-relievi a Takti-i-bustan, Kirmoskiah
Scope and Content Note
Rock relief at Tāq-e Bostān depicting Ardashir II receiving the beribboned ring,
symbol of royal investiture, from his Ahura Mazda. Mithra stands to the left holding a
barsom, a ritual bundle of stiff, straight rods, to sanctify the investiture, while
the body of the defeated Roman Emperor, Justian II, lies beneath Ardashir II's
feet.
page 42 recto
2012.R.18-42r
Bassi-relievi a Takti-i-bustan, Kirmoskiah
Scope and Content Note
Relief to the left of the central relief of the large iwan at Tāq-e Bostān depicting
a hunt scene featuring King Khosrow II of Persia standing in a boat and shooting at
two wild boars. The relief also suggests the span of Khosrow II's empire by moving
from depictions of Indian elephants on its left side to the inclusion of the marshes
and reeds of the Nile on the right.
page Back paste-down
2012.R.18-bp
Back paste-down
Scope and Content Note
Decorated in Persian style, with a central floral cartouche.
box 1, folder 1
2012.R.18-s1
Biographical note regarding Major General Sir Henry Creswicke
Rawlinson,
1921
Scope and Content Note
Brief handwritten note regarding H. C. Rawlinson written on the letterhead of the
Commander-in-Chief in India and signed: Cin in C India 1921 (i.e. General Henry
Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson, and son of H. C. Rawlinson).
box 2
Portrait of Sir Henry Rawlinson,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Lithograph of a portrait of Rawlinson by an unidentified artist.
