TWO LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASES (QALAMDAN) WITH PORTRAITS OF SHEIKH SAN'AN AND THE CHRISTIAN MAIDEN
Qajar Iran, 19th century

Each with rounded ends and sliding tray, polychrome-painted, heightened in gold, and lacquered, the identical decoration on the top and sides of both qalamdans featuring oval medallions with bust portraits of Qajar maidens and roundels with partridges and anthropomorphised hares, the central oval on the top portraying a white-bearded man, possibly Sheikh San'an, at a loss in front of a maiden holding a white dove in her hands, possibly a reference to the Christian maiden, set against a black ground enhanced with stylised gilt floral sprays, the same decorative pattern occurring on both cases' underside and sides of the inner sliding tray, the slightly larger pen case marked with a coarse signature The Work of 'Abdali / 'Abdallah and dated 1320 AH (1902 AD), containing a pair of steel calligrapher's scissors engraved with nasta'liq epigraphic cartouches on the arms' junction, the longest 21.8cm.