* AN ENGRAVED BRASS PEN-CASE FRAGMENT
PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Khorasan, North-Eastern Iran, 12th century

Of triangular shape, hollow in the centre, the two sides engraved with pseudo-Kufic calligraphy against a ground of spiralling vegetal tendrils, the underside with a line of five animals, decreasing in size, against a similar ground, the terminal dome-shaped, below it a small lobed niche opening to reveal an inkwell, 20.5cm long.