*A QAJAR LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASE (QALAMDAN)

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Iran, 19th century

With rounded ends and sliding tray, the top with three horizontally-arranged compositions, painted with a musical female gathering around an odalisque in an interior, the ladies in fashionable shaliteh tutu skirts, wheat branches separating it from scenes of rest in natural landscapes, the sides depicting scenes of story-telling, the ends with scrolling gold branches, the base and underside with gold scrolling floral friezes against black ground, the top inscribed, 'commissioned by Majid ul Mulk', 22cm x 3.5cm x 3.5cm.

Provenance: Christie’s London, 25 November 1985, lot 291.