Last modified: 2000-01-18 by ivan sache
Keywords: iran | lion | sun | sword | lion | pahlavi | state flag | imperial standard | crown | crown prince | war ensign | civil ensign | jack | wreath |
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by
Dave Martucci
This is an image of the State flag of Iran from 1933 to sometime in the late 1960s, I am not sure of the date. Smith [smi75] shows the proportions as 4:7 and a slightly different lion. My image is the 1:3 proportion; this is the flag that the Shah used at his coronation in 1967.
Dave Martucci, 30 March 1998
The lion and the sun are old Iranian symbols, much older than the Pahlavi dynasty.
Harald Müller, 14 May 1996
See also:
In Flaggenbuch [neu39], the coat of arms is the lion shown above but standing on an horizontal golden bar, within a golden wreath (left part, laurel ; right part, oak), the whole being topped by the imperial crown.
Pedersen [ped71] shows the same emblem but adds: " Since c.1957, Iran has also used a coat of arms of the European type, consisting of several quarterings, representing periods in the history of the country."
In Smith [smi80], the state arms are reduced to lion and sun (no crown, no wreath). There are also "imperial arms" of more complicated design: 'The imperial arms show emblems from the dynasties in the past. The inscription at the bottom reads: "He Has Ordered Me to Be Just and He Himself Is theHighest Judge".
Ivan Sache, 16 October 1999
The national flag (and civil ensign) was the same but omitted the lion and sun. The proportion of the 1951 National Geographic [geo51] illustration is slightly less than 1:3 (about 4:11) but Pedersen [ped71] says that the 1:3 ratio and brighter shades were fixed in 1933.
Zeljko Heimer, 13 April 1997
According to Smith [smi75], the basic tricolor dates from the consitution of 14 August 1905, with artistic alterations in 1912, 1933, and ca. 1964. The national flag, the war ensign and the service flag are shown with proportion 4:7. From the chronology, this change most probably occurred ca. 1964.
Ivan Sache, 16 October 1999
The war ensign was the same with the full coat of arms (lion, sun, crown and wreath) according to Flaggenbuch [neu39] and Smith [smi75]
Ivan Sache, 16 October 1999
Flaggenbuch [neu39] and Pedersen [ped71] shows a square green ensign with a large coat of arms in the middle. Jack was adopted in 1935.
Ivan Sache, 16 October 1999
There seems to have been two successive versions of the standard:
According to Flaggenbuch
[neu39] and Pedersen
[ped73], the flag of the Shah was a
square blue flag with a centered crown (of the same design as in the
coat of arms) with a small square canton in the upper left corner
including the national flag with the coat of arms.
The crown prince used the same flag without the coat of arms.
The other princes used the flag without the canton.
Marcus Wendel & Ivan Sache, 15 September 1999
by Pedram Kian
This is the imperial flag of the Pahlavi dynasty. Before 1979 the flag was usually seen besides the Iranian national flag.
Pedram Kian, 15 October 1999
In German TV reports on the visit of the German Federal President to Iran was seen an Imperial standard made of a light blue cloth, with the Great Seal of Iran and in the canton a green-white-red tricolor, on which the lion with the sun. The canton is very small and square. The flag itself is ca. 2:3.
Source: O. Neubecker (28 April 1978)
Jaume Ollé & Jarig Bakker, 9 October 1999
Smith [smi75] shows a blue square flag with square state flag (with lion, sun and wreath) in canton and golden fringes around the "free" edges.
Ivan Sache, 15 September 1999