* A QAJAR LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ MIRROR CASE
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Iran, 19th century

Of rectangular shape, each side lacquered, polychrome-painted and heightened in gold, the decoration on both the lid's front and back mirrored with very minor variations, depicting a gathering of wise men, each paired with a companion, in the centre two men in conversation, the one on the right in one panel flanked by a lion, in another panel on his own, possibly an homage to the prophet Daniel, once thrown in the lions' den, and the scene set at Nebuchadnezzar's court, a European-inspired cityscape with a lake in the background, within two borders of gilt trellis on black and red grounds, the interior of the lid with a qazi or mullah officiating a document at dusk, most probably a marriage contract, in front of him a tall lit candle, flanked by two pink-clad attendants, in the foreground a mustachioed male youth speaking to a maiden sitting in front of him and covering her shoulders with a dark veil, the scene set within a frame with white calligraphic cartouches on a red ground and white roundels on the corners and in the middle of the long sides, 31cm x 20cm.