To Be Sold With No Reserve
An unusual printed copy of an edict of Muzaffar al-Din Shah (reg....

To Be Sold With No Reserve

An unusual printed copy of an edict of Muzaffar al-Din Shah (reg. 1896-1907),

giving permission for the sale of gramophones to an American Limited Society (Societe Anonyme Fournisseur) after their functions had been demonstrated to the Shah, Qajar Persia, dated dhu'l-qa'dah 1323AH/December 1905-January 1906AD, 4ll. of printed nasta'liq script on paper, within gold cloudbands, the lines interspersed with bands of undulating floral motifs, a reproduction of the seal of the Shah dated AH 1314/AD 1896-97 and his signature, both within floral cartouches, creased, framed and glazed

52 x 32.5cm.

Provenance: Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 7 October 2010, Lot 31

In 1906 Maxime Pick a salesman for gramophones and typewriters received permission from Muzzafer Al-Din Shah to distribute the gramophone. Following the lead of Edison agents who rushed to prominent statesman and artists to demonstrate the superior sound of the new recording machine by recording and then mass distributing their voices, Pick hurried a letter to the court of Muzzafer Al-Din Shah requesting that the Shah issue an order (firman) to the community of artists and singers to record them thus providing entertainment for the Shah and that the firman also grant The Gramophone Company permission to distribute and sell the new machine in Iran. 

The firman was not easily granted, Pick himself had to go to the court and record the Shah to prove the potential of the new machine. Five records were made in the course of this visit, two of them bear the seal and signature of the Shah and are dated January 16th 1906. A third one which according to Pick records the Shah extolling the virtues of the gramophone ironically lacks his signature.