MOLKI, Hajj Musavvir, al-, (illus.).

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Propaganda poster styled as a Safavid Persian miniature. A rare colour lithograph produced in Iran as a form of anti-Axis propaganda. We have traced only one other copy, in private hands.The scene shows three knights on horseback, with the facial features of Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt, chasing off three others, whose faces portray Tojo, Hitler, and Mussolini. It is styled as a traditional Persian miniature scene, and is part of a genre of satirical propaganda which developed in Iran. The surrounding Persian text comes from the section of the Shahnameh on the battle of Kamous-e Kashani, where Ashkbous is defeated by Rostam - a subject popular with Persian miniaturists. The artist - Hajj Musavvir Molki (1889-1969) - was an Iranian painter and designer based in Isfahan, specialized in a Safavid revival style of miniature and illumination. Mary of Teck, Queen Consort of George V, commissioned a painting from him in 1931.

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