SAEDNEWS: Among the photos Anton Surugin took of strangers, the face of one woman stands out above the rest. (The images were originally black and white and later colorized using software.)
According to the Society Service of the analytical news platform Saed News, Antoine Surogin was one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. Around 1871 CE (1250 SH), he arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia, and after some time, opened a photography studio on Ala’odoleh (Ferdowsi) Street in Tehran. Surogin’s clients included both Qajar courtiers and European diplomats and travelers visiting Iran.
Surogin’s proximity to the Qajar court allowed him to capture remarkable images of figures and events during the reigns of Naser al-Din Shah and Mozaffar al-Din Shah. Beyond this, he was also deeply interested in photographing various Iranian ethnic groups, everyday street and market scenes, and local customs and traditions.
Currently, Surogin’s photographs are scattered across private and public archives worldwide. Finding multiple photos of a single individual is rare unless the person was highly prominent—like Naser al-Din Shah or some of his close associates. Yet, there is one lesser-known individual who appears repeatedly across Surogin’s archival collections. Interestingly, this figure is a woman whose features and style stand out compared to typical Qajar women.
It is possible that she was part of the royal court, though it’s also conceivable that the archives simply categorized these portraits under “harem” due to their visual similarity. Moreover, the style of her portraiture differs somewhat from standard images of court women.
While Naser al-Din Shah’s wives typically maintain a serious expression and look directly at the camera in solo portraits, this woman strikes relatively artistic poses in both individual and group photographs. This suggests that Surogin may have selected her as a “model” from an aristocratic family.
