TWO LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASES (QALAMDAN) WITH GOL-O-BOLBOL MOTIFS
Qajar Iran, late 18th - 19th century

Each with rounded ends and sliding tray, polychrome-painted, heightened in gold, and lacquered, the decoration on both qalamdans arranged in horizontal order, the top and sides of each pen case painted with traditional compositions featuring the beloved topos of Persian literature, the rose and the nightingale (gol o bolbol), with several birds perched on rose stems or bushes surrounded by fully-blossomed flowers, large buds, and leafy branches, one pen case with a later-added inscription in gold on the top Ya Sahib al-Zaman ('O thou, Lord of Time') 1208 AH (1793), the underside of both cases and the inner sides of their sliding trays decorated with stylised scrollwork of rosettes, lotus flowers, and saz leaves in gold against a red ground, the longest 23.5cm.

The signature 'Ya Sahib al-Zaman' is a takhallos (nom de plume) used by several painters and lacquer masters with the names Muhammad, Muhammad Zaman, or Mahdi. For further information on Qajar lacquer works signed with this formula, please see A. Karimzadeh Tabrizi, The Lives & Art of Old Painters of Iran, vol. 2, London, 1990.