TWO LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASES (QALAMDAN) WITH WINGED ANGELS AND QAJAR MAIDENS
Qajar Iran, mid to late 19th century

Comprising two Persian pen cases, each with rounded ends and sliding trays, polychrome-painted, heightened in gold, and lacquered, the decoration of the top of one pen case arranged in horizontal format featuring three winged female cherubs wearing red beads chokers around their necks, their intimate parts covered by a blue drape, flying amidst a dense green ground of different polychrome-painted flowers including carnations, rosettes, and lotus flowers, the sides decorated with the same floral motif, the underside with gilt lotus flowers and saz leaves pattern on a red ground, the inner tray featuring six cusped calligraphic cartouches inscribed in white ink nasta'liq script with Ghazal 205 of Sa'di's Kulliyat, and a seventh cartouche with a verse added from a different Persian poem, 23.3cm long; and another similar pen case, the top and sides decorated in horizontal format with portraits of Qajar ladies in oval medallions interspersed with scenes of young maidens conversing with angels in a Persian garden setting, the underside and inner tray decorated with gold floral scrolls on red ground, 25cm long.

Inscription of the seventh verse on the first qalamdan:
بصورت آفرین اینم گمانست