TWO LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASES (QALAMDAN) WITH THE GOL-O-BOLBOL MOTIF
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Iran, late 19th century and 20th century

Each with rounded ends and sliding trays, lacquered, polychrome-painted and heightened in gold, the top and sides painted with a traditional horizontal composition featuring the beloved topos of Persian literature, the rose and the nightingale (gol-o-bolbol), plump birds perched next to lush roses and leafy branches, one qalamdan with oval medallions of miniature portraits, the sides of the sliding trays and the underside of the cases with stylised scrollwork of roses, flowers, vine trellis and grapes in gold against red grounds, the longest 23cm long.