Lot Essay
The large square seal is inscribed: ilchi-e makhsus wa wazir-e mokhtar-e 'alahazrat padshah-e engelestan frank lasels 1309 (The special envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty King of England, Frank Lascelles 1309/(1891-2)
The small oval seal reads: Frank Lascelles 1309/(1891-2 AD).
Sir Frank was one of the first "up-and-coming career diplomats of the traditional Eton and Oxford mould who stayed only a few years in Tehran before moving on to higher things" according to Sir Denis Wright (The English amongst the Persians, London, 1977, p.29). Again "Sir Frank Lascelles, Drummond Wolff's successor, was a polished and experienced diplomat described by his German colleagues in Tehran as "the perfect representative" who "rode his Legation, so to say, with loose reins, but he rode it well" (p. 30). He and his wife were in Tehran during the plague of 1892 (p. 92)
The large oval seal reads: "Spring Rice, Charge d'Affaires of the English Government"
Cecil Arthur Spring Rice was an envoy of Edward VII to the court of Muzaffar al-Din Shah in 1906. The letter of Edward VII introducing him to the court of Muzaffar al-Din Shah dated in 1906 is in the archives of Foreign Ministry in Teheran (Khanbaba Bayani: fehrest-e nameh-ha-ye tabadol beyn-e padshahan va saran-e keshvar-ha-ye jahan ba iran, Teheran, 1352, p. 59. He is also mentioned among the first career diplomats by Sir Denis Wright (p. 29)
The fourth item is a talismanic seal with the nada 'ali quatrain in the borders and allah wali al-tawfiq (God is Guardian for success).
The small oval seal reads: Frank Lascelles 1309/(1891-2 AD).
Sir Frank was one of the first "up-and-coming career diplomats of the traditional Eton and Oxford mould who stayed only a few years in Tehran before moving on to higher things" according to Sir Denis Wright (The English amongst the Persians, London, 1977, p.29). Again "Sir Frank Lascelles, Drummond Wolff's successor, was a polished and experienced diplomat described by his German colleagues in Tehran as "the perfect representative" who "rode his Legation, so to say, with loose reins, but he rode it well" (p. 30). He and his wife were in Tehran during the plague of 1892 (p. 92)
The large oval seal reads: "Spring Rice, Charge d'Affaires of the English Government"
Cecil Arthur Spring Rice was an envoy of Edward VII to the court of Muzaffar al-Din Shah in 1906. The letter of Edward VII introducing him to the court of Muzaffar al-Din Shah dated in 1906 is in the archives of Foreign Ministry in Teheran (Khanbaba Bayani: fehrest-e nameh-ha-ye tabadol beyn-e padshahan va saran-e keshvar-ha-ye jahan ba iran, Teheran, 1352, p. 59. He is also mentioned among the first career diplomats by Sir Denis Wright (p. 29)
The fourth item is a talismanic seal with the nada 'ali quatrain in the borders and allah wali al-tawfiq (God is Guardian for success).