This poignant scene recreates the death of Nasir al-Din Shah’s future heir, Amir Qasim Mirza, at only six years old. He likely died of “brain fever,” or meningitis, plunging the shah into a state of helplessness and despair, a profound loss that would affect the ruler for years to come. This moment of grief plays out at the court, literally on the throne, but focusing on the mother’s – Jayran’s – sorrow. The pose of the anguished mother mourning her loss while the son’s limp body lies across her lap recalls the Pieta, Michelangelo’s famous marble sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary mourning her son Jesus. By depicting this scene of the heir’s death on the shah’s throne, Filizadeh hints towards the drama to come in the narrative.
