TWO LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASES (QALAMDAN) WITH PORTRAITS OF QAJAR MAIDENS ATTENDING A CHILD Late Qajar Iran, late 19th - early 20th century

TWO LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASES (QALAMDAN) WITH PORTRAITS OF QAJAR MAIDENS ATTENDING A CHILD Late Qajar Iran, late 19th - early 20th century Each with rounded ends and sliding tray, polychrome-painted, heightened in gold, and lacquered, the top of both qalamdans presenting an identical vertical-format composition featuring a young Qajar princess accompanied by a group of nannies attending a young boy, possibly the princess' younger brother, the scene set outdoor near a riverside, one of the pen cases' top signed Ibrahim and dated 1317 AH (1899 - 1900 AD) in black ink nasta'liq script on the left hand-side, the sides of the signed pen case featuring scenes of countryside living animated by farmers, villagers, and itinerant salesmen, the sides of the latter with Qajar maidens in garden settings with Western architectures in the background, the underside and inner tray of the first qalamdan with gilt floral sprays against a black ground, the inner tray containing a dawat (inkwell) and a modern pair of calligrapher's scissors, 22.5cm long, the underside and inner tray of the latter plain black, 22cm long.Click here to share: