Persian Realm

Ahmad Shah

Darius, thanks for the feedback and I agree.

My father told me many years ago that Ahmad Shah was a very "progressive" prince and followed the latest of the world hot stuff for the youth. He told me that Ahmad Shah used to ride his bicycle (as a young teenager) up and down from the stairs of the Daar-Abaad Palace. Very few people had owned bicycles those days, but Prince Ahmad was already doing the tricks that interestingly kids do much advanced versions of it today. He must have learned them perhaps during trips to the west those days.

I have a letterhead and in its center there is a picture of Mozafareddin Shah and bunch of people from the court, all posed with a leopard under the kings feet. I have no idea why such letterhead was even made. But my father clearly told me that all such hunts were accompanied by Hassan and he was the one who would shoot the rifle at kings order.

JD: Hassan Shekarchi

Thanks for the feedback. So apparently the Boy King was innocent after all ;0)

I found this photo on a website from Iran ( forgot the link) it had some interesting pictures from both the Pahlavi and Qajar eras unfortunately I don't remember the exact link but will post it if I do. The photos of the Qajars were accurately documented but those of the Pahlavi era had the usual IRI propaganda. But it was still interesting to find some rare photos I had not seen before.

I find the Qajar era and dynasty actually quite fascinating. They deserve to be studied in the light of what we know about them today and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be many books in English about them. I know Makhmalbaf the filmmaker made a movie about Muzzaferedin Shah and his fascination with the Cinema and photography.

Also Ahmad Shah reminds me of the Character of the last Chinese Emperor Pu Yi who was a subject of Bernardo Bertollucci's Oscar Winning movie The Last Emperor.

Ahmad Shah's life  and short reign would make an interesting film. I think he was actually much more liberal than what was said about him under the Pahlavi Propaganda against the Qajar rule. But that would need a more accurate research and authority which I do not have on this particular subject.

Best,

DK

Hassan Shekarchi

Darius,
Unless you know the location being different,I believe this photo was taken at Daar-abaad a village about 4 miles east of Niavaran-Shemiran.

Daar-abaad had a palace and Ghajar kings spent a lot of time there. This Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) was hunted by Hassan Shekarchi, the official court's sharp-shooter / hunter in the hills behind Daar-Abaad and photographed at the palace of Shah-Abaad. The palace was turned into a sanitarium after Ghajars were overthrown and stands as a hospital even today with many of the architecture artifacts still in place.

Can I ask you where is the source of your photo? I see an emblem on the lower right-hand-side corner.

Thanks for posting.

Mr. Darius: another great post, I'm grateful.

S.A.M (an official Khar Vazir)

bajenaghe Jaan agreed !

I totally share your assessment. I wonder what we would feel if it were the Animal Huntin us ...

darius jan

this is a great picture. thank you.

i have always wondered why they call hunting a sport! what kind of sport is it that the human shoots to kill an innocent animal. to me this is not a sport. it is bullying and killing in a cowardly manner. to make it a real sport, one should go and fight the animal without any instruments of death. with bare hands. haala mardesh koo?  

This is a Leopard not a Tiger.

This is a Leopard not a Tiger. Palang not Babr.

TheMrs:pictory

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions.

I did create one with others here years ago :

//iranian.com/pictory.html

What interests me is History even in small often apparently insignificant photos that may or may not have a social, cultural or historical value.

As for their relevance or not to our times, its Up to others to draw their own conclusions on whether they find it relevant or not. Shocking or Scandalous. Touching or Funny. Ironic or pertinent. Its not up to me to dictate to people what they should feel or think about these photos after all.The best I can hope for it that they are  thought provoking or at best and inspiration in one form or another if any ...

I do answer like here when I am asked a specific question and I can answer but otherwise I post for "Posterity" if that word has a meaning at all in our cyber world ...

People are free to comment or ignore them or add their feedbacks when they feel it does not contain enough information. I usually add what I know about the photo as a footnote and with links that can further illustrate them. Like for the JAZZ Artist  Dizzy Gillepsie Photo with Princess Shams Pahlavi in Abadan 

I think L.P Hartley, author of the Go Between said it best when he wrote:

"The Past is a foreign country ... People do things differently there" 

Others are free to blog about the history of the Islamic Republic in the past 35 years. I just don't want to depress myself so I might as well depress its supportors ... LOL

Besides more seriously Real talented photographers like Abbas or Reza ( to whom I also refer to whenever they release an album or have an exhibit in Paris or Europe) have been doing this with a great eye and are authorities on the subject.

I also do this because I sometime find it useful to refer to them in my articles or comments to support an argument or point out to some historical event.

Maybe I can figure some kind of collaboration with JJ or his staff on creating a new pictory section with these items in a corner of the front page which could be updated and archived in the pictory section regularly a little like for the Cartoons. But they have not suggested such a collaboration yet. It could be interesting given that I have a huge collection and given the feedback I get from professional historians to filmmakers who want to make a film or documentary on Iranian history or a given era, such a data can always be useful in many ways.

In anycase thank you for sharing your Love and Hate Relation Ship with my Blog ;0) 

Best,

DK

PS: And Wishing you a quick Recovery given that I read you were in pains due to a bad doctor.

Where's PETA when you need them

Well hot damn! And I thought my news articles were already in my email! How did I ever expect to continue my day without such news worth and oh so entertaining peice of information! God Bless The King.

I have a suggestion for you sir. Please feel free to ignore it and then accuse me of being from the other side. These pictures you put up every day do have historical value. Even to anti monarchists such as myself. However, they are easy to ignore, you post a gizilion of them. All with very little information. Perhaps you could put a few of them together and create a pictory. Add some comments or something. Create a theme. Show us how these are relevant today. Give some back ground on who the people are!

In this case, I think it's safe to say the hunter was hunted out!