AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY PERSIAN (IRANIAN) SILVER CIGARETTE CASE
Isfahan, circa 1920

Qajar dynasty, of curved rectangular form with a push button release. The front with engraved ghalam zani decoration of two figures on horseback, one having speared a deer with a hound in pursuit, a further figure to the foreground chasing a deer with a stick, all centred with a bird within a tree and reserved with foliage; contained within a shaped cartouche, all edged with foliage and rosettes. The obverse with a courtly scene of nine figures, eight seated with either musical instruments or long necked bottles, reserved in a quatre-lobed rectangular cartouche reserved with trailing foliage. The interior with a scratched name and address, later obliterated leaving “Lindon Road, Cheltenham”. Marked only to the interior with a workshop or retailers mark in Armenian characters.

Length – 9.1 cm / 3.6 inches

Weight – 108 grams / 3.47 ozt