Fath-Ali Shah Qajar

Compiled by: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On September 5, 1772 AD, the second king of the Qajar Dynasty of Iran, Fath-Ali Shah, was born. He was the son of Hussein Qoli Khan Qajar, brother of Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Qajar dynasty. He was governor of Fars when his childless uncle was assassinated in 1797 and thus succeeded him.
Much of his 37-year long reign that saw the gradual loss of vast areas of Iran in the Caucasus, in Khorasan, is Sistan-Baluchestan, in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, was marked by the resurgence of Persian arts and painting, as well as a deeply elaborate court culture with extremely rigid etiquette.
During his reign, portraiture and large-scale oil painting reached a height previously unknown under any other Islamic dynasty, due to his personal patronage. While the economic conditions of the people declined, Fath Ali Shah ordered the creation of royal regalia, including coronation chairs such as the bejeweled "Takht-e-Tavoos" (Peacock Throne) – modeled on the famous Peacock Throne of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, which Nader Shah had brought as booty from India following his conquest of Delhi, and which was dismantled and distributed amongst his generals after his assassination.
Fath Ali Shah also modified with a large number of pearls and gems his uncle’s crown, the "Taj-e-Kiyani". He led a life of luxury oblivious of the poverty of the people and the political humiliation to Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as a result of the Russian-imposed Golestan and Turkmanchai Treaties, coupled with growing British pressures and encroachments. When his son and crown prince Abbas Mirza died on 25 October 1833, he named his grandson Mohammed Mirza as his crown prince and eventual successor. Fath Ali Shah died a year later on 23 October 1834.