One of the rare and lesser-known examples that has not been independently studied is the painted plaque of court iconography on porcelain with the image of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, attributed to an artist named Carl Schmidt, who was influenced by the photographs of Nasser al-Din Shah's visit to England in the London Gallery Portrait Collection. This colored example, by copying the photograph, displays royal belongings and accessories in the image and is in perfect harmony with his black and white photographs from this period. It documents jewelry, ornaments, and medals in a purposeful and colorful painting style.
The purpose of this research is to analyze the visual and structural features of this painted plaque and its relationship with photographic examples from Nasser al-Din Shah's trip to England to meet Queen Victoria. The main question of the present research is as follows: What are the aspects of analyzing the visual features of the enamel painted plaque attributed to Carl Schmidt in relation to the art of photography? The necessity and importance of the present research is that, given the lack of introduction of this rare example of realistic iconographic painting by a non-Iranian artist, it is clear to what extent the colored sample was close to the photographic image. This work has not been studied so far and was most likely purchased by the Queen and is kept in the personal and royal collection of the English court. Therefore, the necessity of the present research is to study this work of Iranian royalty by a non-Iranian artist and its influence on Iranian art in line with the studies of court iconography of the Qajar period (Nasseri period).
According to the contents of the table above, it seems that photographic images were used as a powerful tool like painting in the Qajar period, and in this porcelain plaque, the influence of photographic art can be seen in adapting it. In all cases, such as the type of covering, the way of sitting; the characteristics and details of the images show that the influence and impact of painting and photography on each other in the art of this period has continued to be very powerful and has been used as a tool of power and cultural content in Western art and has also changed the direction of Iranian painting towards photographic painting. Painting, influenced by photography and realistic and objective representation, has changed the painting culture of the Qajar period. In Iran during the Qajar period, as in Western countries, the art of photography was very welcomed and, along with other Western achievements in the field of Iranian culture and art, it has been very influential on the field of cultural developments. In a case study, a court portrait painting of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, a work attributed to Schmidt; Influenced by the art of photography during his trip to Europe, there is a high similarity between his photographs from this period, which is very close to the Chinese painting discussed in this article. It can be concluded that the courtly iconography of the Qajar period and the concepts instilled in the elements of the image and the display of royal splendor were in sync with the functional aesthetic aspects influenced by reality in photography.