A KASHMIRI-STYLE LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASE (QALAMDAN) WITH FLORAL SCROLLWORK CHEVRONS
Qajar Iran, mid to late 19th century

With rounded ends and a sliding tray, polychrome-painted, heightened in gold, and lacquered, the decoration arranged in horizontal order, the top featuring a central cusped cartouche with the Persian literary topos of the rose and the nightingale (gol o bolbol) surrounded by cusped arches on each end in-filled with scrolling vines, floral motifs, and stylised arabesque patterns in typical Kashmiri style, the sides repeating the same design organised in overlapping chevron bands, the underside of the case with a gold floral bush with foliage and trellis on a black ground, and the inner sides of the sliding tray plain black, 23.5cm long.