Abu'l-Hasan Khan Ghaffari Kashani (Persian: ابوالحسن غفاری; 1814–1866) was an Iranian painter, miniature and lacquer artist, and book illustrator.

He was the uncle of Mohammad Ghaffari (Kamal ol Molk), who became an acclaimed court painter during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah.

[2] Abu'l-Hasan went to Europe to continue his education sometime between the 1820s and 1830s, although most of the information about his time abroad focuses on his two to three year stay in Italy.

One of Amanat's theories is that he went to Europe using personal funds due to the state of Iran's financial constraints and changing court politics with the demise of the Āqāsī government.

Amanat's second theory is predicated on changes in the court order when Mīrzā Taqī Khān became the Shah's tutor and chief of the army.

Some of Abu'l-Hasan's later watercolor portraits and a sketch of the crown prince in 1845 resemble the Colonel's style, suggesting that he had significant influence on him.

His work caught the attention of the subsequent ruler, Naser al-Din Shah, who made him chief court painter and gave him the title Sani al Molk, meaning "Craftsman or Painter of the Kingdom"[7] or Artisan of the Kingdom[8] According to Stanislaus State professor Staci Gem Scheiwiller, he distinguished himself with "lifelike portraits of dignitaries, which convey a profound psychological intensity, such as in his work Prince Ardishir Mirza, Governor of Tehran.

[6] In 1861, he was appointed as Director of Printing and Chief Illustrator by Naser al-Din Shah, who said that Abu'l-Hasan earned this new title to his superior lithographic abilities.

[7] Scholars Mahyar Asadi and Azadeh Amjadi at the University of Fine Arts in Tehran, Iran believe that his work on this manuscript was influenced by previous Iranian painters during the reign of Caliph Noaman.

They use semiotics (the study of origins) to discover that both sets of illustrations have very similar detailing in facial features, clothing, hands and feet.

[7] Miniature illustrations of a Persian version of One Thousand and One Nights, created by Sani ol Molk and other artists under his supervision.