A SMALL QAJAR POLYCHROME-PAINTED ENAMELLED COPPER BOWL
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Iran, 19th century

Of hemispherical shape, with a convex base and circular rim, the exterior and interior both painted in polychrome enamels, the interior featuring several miniature portrait roundels with Qajar youths against a turquoise ground enhanced with gilt rosette sprays, the exterior with a cusped arabesque medallion in the centre amidst bushes of roses and blue flowers, more portraits of Qajar beaus, and cusped cartouches of black nasta'liq calligraphy reading Sonnet 11 of Hafez against a pink ground, the content of the quatrains about drinking from a cup and seeing the Beloved's face in it, 9cm diam. and 3cm high.