English: A hand-coloured lithograph depicting Mirza Abu'l Hassan Khan, Persian Ambassador to Great Britain

M. Gauci, after his own drawing, printed by Mr Mozer, London, 1819

Hand-coloured lithograph on paper, title in lower border His Excellency Mirza Abul Hassan Khan, Ambassador Extraordinary from his Majesty the Shah of Persia to HRH the Prince Regent of Great Britain, trimmed (lacking most of dedicatory inscription), in mount 408 x 279 mm.

Mirza Abu'l Hassan Khan was sent to the Court of King George III by Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar in 1809, to ensure the smooth passage of a treaty of alliance between the two countries. During his seven months in London, between December 1809 and July 1810, Abu'l Hassan aroused considerable fascination and his portrait was painted by some of the leading artists of the day, including Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir William Beechey.

As early as 1804, Persia had sought help from Great Britain against continuous encroachments from Russia. Failing to secure this, she had turned to France and, in 1807, secured help from Napoleon's government in the Treaty of Finkenstein. Alert to the potential dangers posed by an alliance between Persia and France, the British Foreign Office sent Sir Harford Jones to meet with the Persian Government. The Shah of Persia, who had come to the realisation of France's powerlessness to fulfil its pledges, willingly accepted assistance from Great Britain and, early in 1809, renounced the Treaty of Finkenstein and entered into negotiations with Britain. Among other things, it was agreed that a British Ambassador would be sent to Persia. Abu'l Hassan was appointed by the Shah to travel to Great Britain to assist with negotiations and ensure the final sanctioning of an Anglo-Persian Treaty. While receiving the privileges and honours of an ambassador, Abu'l Hassan was appointed as Vakil (deputy, Charge d'Affairés). James Morier (1782-1849), Secretary to Sir Harford Jones, who accompanied Abu'l Hassan from Tehran, referred to him as an 'Envoy Extraordinary', while the English Government gave him the title of 'Minister Plenipotentiary'.

As the first Persian of ambassadorial status to visit London in almost two hundred years, Abu'l Hassan quickly became a source of fascination. In addition to his official meetings with Government Ministers and East India Company officials, Abu'l Hassan was entertained by many leading figures of the day: parties were thrown in his honour by the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Royal Dukes. Morier commented that Abu'l Hassan was 'distinguished, during his stay in England, by attentions more marked and continued than, perhaps, were ever paid to any foreigner'. Charles Lamb noted that 'The Persian Ambassador is the principal thing talked of now' (writing to Thomas Manning, 2nd January 1810). Hassan's movements and 'peculiar' foreign habits were reported in social columns in daily newspapers.

The Foreign Office finally agreed to the terms of the Treaty in March 1810 and chose Sir Gore Ouseley as the first British Ambassador to the Court of the Shah of Persia. He and Abu'l Hassan, along with James Morier, as Secretary to the Embassy, set off for Persia in July 1810, arriving in November of the following year. On arrival in Tehran, Abu'l Hassan was honoured with the title of Khan by the Shah. He was then made ambassador to Russia, a post held between 1815 and 1817. He made a second trip to Great Britain from 1819 to 1820 and, on his return to Persia, became first Persian Minister of Foreign Affairs.