A MUGHAL-STYLE CARVED OPENWORK MARBLE JALI WINDOW PANEL
Possibly Agra, Northern India, first half 20th century

Of rectangular shape, with a solid frame and an openwork central panel featuring a reticulate of repeating hexagonal stellar pattern, one of the shorter sides engraved in Roman alphabet reading 'POZZI' in capital letters, mounted on a gilt metal stand, the panel 51cm x 40.3cm, 59cm high including the stand.

The later-added inscription 'POZZI' leads one to speculate whether there could be an affiliation or connection between this panel and the Jean Pozzi's collection of Iranian and Persianate Art. Perhaps less well-known than his fellow contemporary French art collectors, Georges Marteau and Henri Vever, Jean Pozzi (1884 - 1967), the French Plenipotentiary Minister in Iran and Egypt, can be considered another one of the major collectors of Iranian and Islamic arts in early 20th-century Europe. In the fall of 1966, he donated a substantial part of his collection, including over 600 manuscript illustrations, calligraphic panels, and illuminated folios, to the Museum of Art and History in Geneva (MAH), where these artworks are still housed. Although Pozzi is mostly renowned for his collection of works on paper, manuscripts and flat art, one could wonder if in all his years hunting for these gems, he also acquired decorative items to dress his interiors, like this marble jali panel for instance.