The Pittsburgh Press (December 10, 1943)
MacGowan: Cat’s-whisker miniature given Churchill at Tehran
Bearded Sikhs of Iran-Iraq force give tiny painting and three big cheers
By Gault MacGowan, North American Newspaper Alliance
Cairo, Egypt – (Dec. 7, delayed)
Bearded Sikhs, who are a big part of the backbone of the British Army in India, presented Prime Minister Churchill on his 69th birthday with one of the famous cat’s-whisker miniatures, painted with a single hair from the sideburns of a Persian feline upon a velvet table runner by the veteran artist Imami.
The Sikhs who selected the strikingly unusual gift are members of the PI Force, an abbreviation for Persia-Iraq Expeditionary Force. Officers and soldiers jointly subscribed for the birthday present for the Prime Minister. Tommies had chosen for their birthday remembrance an Ispahan silver cigar box on an oval silver tray, and the Imami runner was to go underneath the cigar box set.
Mr. Churchill said in expressing his thanks:
I am a stranger to the PI Force but I know what you troops have done. I hope and trust that the decisions we are making at this conference will shorten the war and enable all of you to go back to your homes in the East or West, wherever they may be.
Give three cheers
The three cheers for Prime Minister Churchill which echoed at the conclusion of his remarks were so enthusiastic and prolonged that some of those who heard the in Tehran believed that the war had ended.
A tall sergeant major called for one more cheer for Mr. Churchill “to take back to the old folks at home,” and it was given as vociferously as the others.
Most members of the Tehran delegation brought Persian carpets back with them, the best being one that the Shah of Persia gave to President Roosevelt.
Old and bearded
Imami, the artist who painted the table runner presented to Prime Minister Churchill, is bearded himself; and old – so old that no one knows quite how old. He sits all day in a vaulted archway fronting the sidewalks of Ispahan and chooses with loving care the single whiskers from the beard of his Persian cat with which he paints scenes the ancient Zoroastrian history on bracelets of bone and other souvenirs.
His cat sits beside his busy, magic hands, watching patiently while he mixes his colors and applies them, and allows itself to be cuddled affectionately whenever its artist-master needs a new whisker. American officers and GIs from the great railroad and truck highway across the mountains from the Persian Gulf stop to watch Imami work. They pet his cat and buy from him Christmas bracelets which will soon be gracing pretty wrists in America.
All know Imami
Lt. Mitchell H. Habeeb, a carpet expert of Brooklyn, New York, told me:
Everybody knows Imami and his Persian cat. He is the most famous artist of Ispahan by popular acclaim and Ispahan is the most famous art center of Persia. The city turns out the best Persian rugs – real craftsmanship – and the silversmiths do lovely work – elaborate statues, minarets and table sets wrought in designs as fine as old lace.
Lt. Habeeb’s family is of Syrian origin, though he was born in the United States.