A QAJAR LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASE (QALAMDAN) WITH A STANDING PORTRAIT
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Qajar Iran, dated 1271 AH (1854) and signed Ya Shah Najaf (Najaf 'Ali, 1795 - 1863)

With rounded ends and sliding tray, lacquered, polychrome-painted and heightened in gold, the top with a vertical standing portrait composition depicting a Qajar nobleman walking in the wilderness, surrounded by animals, wearing the typical black kaj kolah headdress, the signature and date in black to the left of the prunus blossom, the portrait set against a gold-sprinkled ground, the sides painted with horizontal compositions consisting of multiple cusped cartouches featuring a Qajar ruler smoking a qalyan and relaxing in his lavish abode, and hunting scenes, alternating with oval portrait miniature medallions with Qajar beauties and youths, the base and sides of the sliding tray with stylised gilt flower scrolls and pairs of birds against a red ground, the underside of the case with a similar motif of gilt birds amidst grape bunches and vine trellis painted against a black ground, 23.5cm long.