^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Persia (Iran) from XVI to XVIIIth century

King Qajar (late 1700s)
Nader Shah (1736-1747)
XVIth century
Erivan Khanate (c. 1750s)

See also:

King Qajar (late 1700s)

image by Pedram Kian

This flag was used around the late 1700's by King Qajar, who was from a Turkmen tribe, and my evidence is the portrait of him beside the flag.
Pedram Kian, 6 October 1999

Nader Shah

Source: The Imperial Iranian Army from Cyrus to Pahlavi by Yahva Zoka (1971).

"Hamway, an English merchant reports: Two large royal standards one with red, blue and white stripes and the other with red, blue, white and yellow stripes. Nader invented two other banners one with red and yellow stripes and one with a yellow background and red border."
(Zoka suggests that the yellow banner carried the lion and sun motif of previous Iranian rulers).
Each regiment had its own distinctive banner of red and white stripes.
The naval ships had a white flag with curved red sword.

Note the illustrations show triangular flags with horizontal stripes. Whitney Smith did an article on Persian flags for one of the International Vexillological meetings. He used this book and other sources.
Art Etchells, 20 September 2000

image located by William Garrison, 29 December 2019

Source: https://kavehfarrokh.com/news/flags-of-nader-shahs-army-discovered-in-the-caucasus/
William Garrison, 29 December 2019

XVIth century

image by Randy Young

Image taken from the 1771 Encyclopedia Britannica: on a green field a golden sheep standing before the rising sun.
Randy Young, 01 December 1998

This flag has been used for 5 decades during the rule of Shah Tahmasb of Persia (1524 -1576). The reason he had placed a sheep on the official flag, was that because he was born during the month of Aries, and the symbol of that month is a ram. After Shah Tahmasb's death, the sheep was replaced by a lion again.
Pedram Kian, 13 April 2000

Erivan Khanate (c. 1750s)

The flags below look like standard Persian army flags founded on Erivan Khanate territory or used by Persian (or local but loyal to Persia) army units on the Erivan Khanate territory.
Victor Lomantsov, 10 January 2026

Per Wikipedia: The "Erivan Khanate" (Persian: خانات ایروان, romanized: Khānāt-e Iravān), also known as "Chokhur-e Sa'd", was a "khanate" (province) that was established in "Afsharid Iran" in the 18th century (c. 1750s). It covered an area of roughly 19,500 km and corresponded to most of present-day central "Armenia", the Iğdır Province and the Kars Province's Kağızman district in present-day "Turkey" and the Sharur and Sadarak districts of the "Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic" of present-day "Azerbaijan".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erivan_Khanate

William Garrison, 9 January 2026

Azerbaijani Erivan Khanate Flag ("Khan's Standard")

image located by William Garrison, 9 January 2026
Source: https://www.azglobalcontext.org/2024

Revised image [c. 2015]

image located by William Garrison, 9 January 2026
Source: https://www.azglobalcontext.org/2024

Iravan Khanate's Sardar Flag, National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan

image located by William Garrison, 9 January 2026
Source: https://www.azglobalcontext.org/2024

Iravan Khanate Flag, National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan

image located by William Garrison, 9 January 2026
Source: https://www.azglobalcontext.org/2024