* A QAJAR LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASE (QALAMDAN) WITH A SUFI SHEYKH AND HIS PUPILS
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Iran, 19th century

With rounded ends and sliding tray, lacquered, polychrome-painted and heightened in gold, the top painted with a vertical figural composition depicting a seated Sufi sheykh surrounded by his two pupils, one sitting in front of him and handing him a flower, the latter standing behind him and holding a kashkul (begging bowl) and a stick, both youths wearing the typical Sufi felt hat, the scene set against a lush landscape filled with deer, peacocks and birds, on the top right a signature in black ink Zayn Al-'Abidin and date 128 (1208AH? 1792), possibly a later addition, the sides with two oval roundels with the same sheykh seated in contemplation and joint by other pupils, and cusped cartouches with landscape views and lush floral bouquets with birds, the base and sides of the sliding tray with stylised interlocking gilt and polychrome-painted lotus and flower scrolls against a clear white ground, 20.5cm long.

The same takhallos Zayn Al'Abidin inscribed on our pen case can be found on another early 19th-century qalamdan decorated with calligraphy and sold at Christie's London, 25 April 2013, lot 133 and on a mid-19th-century lacquered mirror case part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection (inv. no. 2009.170).