A SMALL SOLID SILVER SNUFFBOX
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Qajar Iran, late 19th - early 20th century

Of rectangular shape with rounded edges, the hinged lid and base engraved with a central cusped cartouche against a ground decorated with dense intertwined and scrolling rosette and lotus flower sprays with birds, one cartouche featuring a Safavid-style couple drinking in a garden, the latter with three storks in the wilderness, the sides finely engraved with two quatrains of poetic verses in nasta'liq script with a sonnet by Hafez in oval cartouches against the same floral decoration with birds of the main panels, the internal rim of the lid stamped 'Alaqeh Bandan', 141gr., 2cm x 7cm x 5cm.