Portrait de Nasir al-Din Shah

Mehran DHN

Mirza Abul-Hasan Khan Ghaffari Kashani (Persian: میرزا ابوالحسن‌ خان غفاری کاشانی; 1814–1866) was an Iranian painter, miniature and lacquer artist, and book illustrator. When he became the Chief Court Painter, he also became known as Sani al-Mulk (صنیع‌الملک), meaning "the Crafter of the Kingdom." He was a student of Mihr Ali and a court painter in Mohammad Shah Qajar's court. After being dismissed as a court painter, he went to Europe to study, most notably in Italy. When he returned to Iran, he became the Director of Printing and Chief Illustrator for Naser al-Din Shah and earned the separate title Chief Court Painter.[1] He supervised the illustration of a famous One Thousand and One Nights manuscript, which can be viewed today in Tehran in the Golestan Palace Library.