Lettre de Muzaffar al-Din Shah présentant l'ambassadeur Arfa ' al-Dawla

Iran, Dated 20 Sha'ban 1322 / October 3, 1904. Gouache, ink, gold, on heavy paper, mounted as an album page, inscribed with 11 lines of writing "shekasteh nasta'liq". Dated 20 Sha'ban 1322 / October 3, 1904. Page size: 45 x 32 cm The text introduces Ambassador Arfa al-Dawla to the Ottoman Empire, as a special envoy to the Russian court. Arfa'-al-Dawla (circa 1846-1937), also known as Prince Mirza Reza Arfa', was a diplomat and poet of the late Qajar period. Of modest extraction, he grew up in Yerevan, under Russian occupation since 1827, in Tabriz, then in Istanbul. These different stages gave him the opportunity to develop an excellent command of Russian, Turkish and French, in addition to his mother tongue. His diplomatic career, which began around 1873 at the Persian Consulate General in Tiflis, focused on these three countries. He accompanied Nasser-al-Din Shah (d. 1896) as a Russian interpreter on his journey across the Caucasus to Europe. In the 1880s, he also took part in the joint commission for the delimitation of the border between Russia and the Persian province of Khorasan. In 1889, he was again part of Nasser-al-Din Shah's retinue on his last trip to Europe. In 1895, he was appointed Persian minister to the Russian court in St. Petersburg, and in 1900 ambassador to the Ottoman court, a post he held for ten years. That same year, he represented Persia at the peace conference in The Hague. The title of "prince" (mīrzā) was conferred on him in 1899 by Moẓaffar-al-Dīn Shah (r.1896-1907) in gratitude for a reception held for him at Reza's residence in St. Petersburg. References: Encyclopedie iranica, accessed online, Volume VII, "DANES". A letter from Muzaffar al-Din Shah presenting Arfa ' al-Dawla, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, as special envoy to the Russian court, dated AH 20 Sha'ban 1322 / October 3, 1904 AD.