TWO LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASES (QALAMDAN) WITH STANDING PORTRAITS
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Qajar Iran, late 19th century

Each with rounded ends and sliding trays, lacquered, polychrome-painted and heightened in gold, comprising a qalamdan with a vertically arranged standing portrait of an investment scene with a noble Qajar youth being given an aigrette by an elderly vizir under the supervision of a young Qajar king and a faithful attendant, the sides with horizontally arranged scenes of hunt, equestrian prowess, romantic landscapes and portrait roundels, the sides of the sliding tray and underside of the case with gilt floral scrollwork against a black ground, 23cm long; and another qalamdan with calligrapher's tools (pair of scissors and soot spoon), the top painted with a long oval cartouche in the centre filled with a lady escaping from her abode wearing a Western long dress and European hairstyle, the sides with two Westernised horizontal landscape views inspired by Russian prototypes, the remaining spaces filled by oval medallions with pairs of ibexes symbolising companionship and other animals, the sides of the sliding tray and underside of the case with gilt floral scrollwork against a black ground, 23cm long.