A QAJAR POLYCHROME POTTERY INKWELL Iran, 19th century Of rectangular shape, the white ceramic object designed in two sections, the trio of removable inkwells in a row decorated with birds and flowers in polychromes, the pen-rest section's vertical facade with three floral festoons and stepped sides, the green Greek keys framing the lower part, the sides and back with a total of four portrait ovals interspersed with floral scrolls bearing birds, 20cm x 11cm x 5cm. This small object exemplifies the transition from traditional and minimalist settings to a more Western one: it is now a stationery object belonging to a desk, indicating the presence of Western-style furniture as opposed to the traditional scribe's mobile tools of the trade, resting on his knees on the floor. The European-inspired naive decoration is the case in point in the way Qajar art bridges East and West and the aspirations of a new middle class.