Mirza Aqa Emami

Mirza Aqa Emami (; born Mohammad Mehdi Emami; 1881–1955), also known as Haj Mirza Aqa Emami, was an Iranian painter, miniaturist, lacquer artist, illuminator and carpet designer. Active during the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods, he worked in a wide range of traditional Iranian arts, including miniature painting, flower-and-bird painting, manuscript illumination, lacquerwork, pen-case painting, carpet design and the leather-cutwork technique known as sookht.

Emami is particularly associated with the revival of Safavid-inspired painting in twentieth-century Isfahan and with transforming sookht, traditionally used in the decoration of leather bookbindings, into a medium for independent pictorial panels. He also maintained a workshop in Isfahan and trained a number of artists, including Mahmoud Farshchian.

Early life and family Emami was born in Isfahan into a family of painters, lacquer artists and calligraphers. His father, Mohammad Hosayni Emami, was a painter of lacquer objects and flower-and-bird compositions active during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. His paternal grandfather, Nasrallah Hosseini Emami, was also a painter and lacquer artist and held the title of naqqash-bashi, or chief painter. His training included miniature painting, illumination, drawing and the technical preparation of lacquered objects.

After completing this period of training, Emami returned to Isfahan, where he spent most of his professional life.

Career Emami worked during a period in which Iranian artists were responding both to the decline of traditional court and manuscript patronage and to the increasing presence of European academic and photographic imagery. His surviving drawings indicate that he understood naturalistic drawing and Western-influenced portraiture, but most of his finished works remained closely connected to Iranian pictorial traditions.

Emami's activities were not limited to paintings on paper. He designed and decorated lacquer pen cases, book covers, mirror cases, boxes, doors, jewellery and other small objects. He also produced illumination, marginal decoration, calligraphic inscriptions, textile designs and cartoons for pictorial carpets.

Carpet design Emami also designed pictorial carpets. According to accounts of his career, he became interested in carpet production after observing a shortage of accomplished carpet cartoons and established a workshop in Isfahan to revive older designs. Emami's teaching introduced Farshchian to the visual traditions of Timurid and Safavid painting and to the technical disciplines of traditional Isfahan workshops.

Emami also trained members of his own family. His daughter, Zinat al-Sadat Emami, learned miniature painting, flower-and-bird painting and sookht from him and later became a practitioner of traditional Iranian arts.

Selected works Works attributed to or signed by Emami include:

Shirin in a Landscape Holding a Wine Bottle and Porcelain Cup, dated 1308 SH (1929–1930), gouache and gold on leather with cut-leather borders. Siyavash and Sudabeh, a Safavid-inspired narrative painting based on the Shahnameh. Painted and lacquered doors, mirror cases, pen cases, book covers and boxes decorated with figures, floral designs and scenes derived from Persian poetry. Other works are held in Iranian institutional and private collections, including collections formerly administered by the Pahlavi Foundation and later transferred to the Mostazafan Foundation.