{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O402905"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O402905/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GK3910/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GK3910/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GK3910","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011FD1883","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O402905/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O402905","accessionNumber":"AL.8280:1","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This architectural sketch belongs to a portfolio of 238 designs on paper, once owned by a working architect in Qajar Tehran, in nineteenth-century Iran. There are two complete paper scrolls, and 236 smaller designs, most of which were cut down from other scrolls. They are a rare survival. The drawings vary in style and content, showing a range of designs proposed for tilework, stucco and woodwork, as well as architectural groundplans and elevations. Some reflect Iranian traditions of long standing, while others show decorative fashions imported from Europe. They are probably the work of several different individuals. \r\nThe drawings were acquired for the Museum in 1875 by Caspar Purdon Clarke, an architect who later became Director of the V&A. In 1874-75, Purdon Clarke was in Tehran, renovating the British embassy buildings. During the project, this drawing series was presented to Purdon Clarke by the local master-builders he was working with. He reported later that this was not a sale but an exchange, in acknowledgement of his teaching some European building-techniques to his Tehran colleagues. The two master-builders, Ostad Khodadad and Ostad Akbar, explained that the portfolio had belonged to the late Mirza Akbar, a court architect active in Tehran earlier in the century. \r\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Mirza Akbar","id":"AUTH316251"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":"attributed to"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Graphite and ink on pape. This drawing belongs to a group of twenty designs, each on simillar white paper without chainlines, and featuring compositions suitable for a chimneypiece or an ornate ceiling of carved plaster and even mirrorwork, wholly typical of fashionable interiors throughout Qajar Iran. The set originally formed one single paper scroll, but were cut down before they came to the museum in 1877. The paper scroll was a traditional format for recording architectural designs.","categories":[{"text":"Architectural fittings","id":"THES48994"},{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2013GK3910","2011FD1883"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES403683"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Drawing","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Tehran","id":"x35420"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1840-1870","earliest":"1840-01-01","latest":"1870-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"51","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"26/06/2013","earliest":"2013-06-26","latest":"2013-06-26"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"21.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"26/06/2013","earliest":"2013-06-26","latest":"2013-06-26"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Architectural drawing, graphite and ink on paper, attributed to Mirza Akbar, Iran, 1840-1870","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Caspar Purdon Clarke, \"The Tracing Board in Modern Oriental and Medieval Operative Masonry\" in  <i>Transactions of the Lodge Quatuor Coronati</i> 2076/6 (1893) pp.99-110"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gülru Necipoglu, \"Geometric Design in Timurid/Turkmen Architectural Practice: Thoughts on a Recently Discovered Scroll and its Late Gothic Parallels\" in <i> Timurid Art and Culture: Iran and Central Asia in the Fifteenth Century</i>, eds. L. Golombek, M. Subtelny, Leiden, 1992, 48–67."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jennifer Scarce, \"The Arts of the Eighteenth to Twentieth Centuries: Architecture, Ceramics, Metalwork, Textiles\", in <i>The Cambridge History of Iran </i>, vol.7, eds. P. Avery, G. Hambly, C. Melville, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1991), pp.896-899"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Caspar Purdon Clarke and T. Hayter Lewis, \"Persian Architecture and Construction\" in <i>T<i>he</i></i><i> Transactions </i>(the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1881), Session 1880-1881, pp.161-174"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"R. Phené Spiers, \"Stalactite (Honeycomb) Vaulting, I\" in <i>The R.I.B.A Journal</i>, (26 April 1888), pp.256-260"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"R. Phené Spiers, \"Stalactite (Honeycomb) Vaulting, II\" in <i>The R.I.B.A Journal,10 May</i>1888, pp.282-284"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gülru Necipoglu, <i>The Topkapi Scroll - Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture</i>, Santa Monica: Getty (1995), ch.1"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Abraham Thomas, \"The Orient and Ornament at the South Kensington Museum\", in Art and Design for All. The Victoria and Albert Museum, ed. Julius Bryant, London: V&A Publishing (2011), 91-102."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gülru Necipoglu, \"Geometric Design in Timurid/Turkmen Architectural Practice: Thoughts on a Recently Discovered Scroll and its Late Gothic Parallels\" in <i>Timurid Art and Culture: Iran and Central Asia in the Fifteenth Century</i>, eds. L. Golombek, M. Subtelny, Leiden: Brill (1992), pp.48–67."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Caspar Purdon Clarke and T. Hayter Lewis, \"Persian Architecture and Construction\" in <i>The Transactions [of the Royal Institute of British Architectw]</i> (1880-1881) pp.161-174."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"R. Phené Spiers, \"Stalactite (Honeycomb) Vaulting, I\" in <i>The R.I.B.A Journal</i> (26 April 1888) pp.256-260"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"R. Phené Spiers, \"Stalactite (Honeycomb) Vaulting, II\" in <i>The R.I.B.A Journal</i> (10 May 1888) pp.282-284"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Abraham Thomas, \"The Orient and Ornament at the South Kensington Museum\", in <i>Art and Design for All. The Victoria and Albert Museum</i>, ed. Julius Bryant, London: V&A Publishing (2011), pp.91-102."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Moya Carey, <i>Persian Art. Collecting the Arts of Iran for the V&A</i> (London: V&A, 2018) pp.47-67."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Caspar Purdon Clarke","id":"N4707"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Jameel Gallery\r\n\r\n3 Sketches of architectural features\r\nIran, probably Tehran\r\n1840–1870\r\n\r\nThe features include ceiling decoration (top left) and a wall frieze (top right). The two chimney-pieces (right and bottom left) are of a European type adopted in Iran during the 19th century. All the designs incorporate European ideas.\r\n\r\nTheir lavishness suggests the designs were for a royal palace. They may record features of a palace already built.\r\n\r\nGraphite and ink on paper\r\n\r\nMuseum no. AL.8280\r\n","date":{"text":"2011-2013","earliest":"2011-01-01","latest":"2013-12-31"}},{"text":"Persian Decoration. Working Drawings formerly used by MIRZA AKBER, Architect to the Court of Persia. \r\nSheet No. 3. - Figs. I, V, fireplaces. Figs.II, IV, ceilings. Fig.III, sketches of birds. Figs.VI, VII, borders.","date":{"text":"1877","earliest":"1877-01-01","latest":"1877-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["AL.8280:1"],"accessionNumberNum":"8280","accessionNumberPrefix":"AL","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Previous number","id":"THES51695"},"number":"8280"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-02","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}