* A LARGE QAJAR GILT AND ENAMELLED SILVER QALYAN CUP
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Iran, 19th century

Of typical cylindrical shape, with a wide everted rim, the exterior finely decorated with gilt stippled appliqued decoration against a champlevé enamelled dark blue ground, the rim and base covered in green enamel, the central decorative band consisting of drop-shaped medallions filled with rows of white enamelled beads and leafy sprays, framing red and green-enamelled rosettes alternating with vegetal and floral triumphs similarly decorated, further white and red-enamelled beading and acanthus leaves trellis on the lower part of the body, the whole composition reminiscent of 18th and 19th-century French enamelled artworks, the interior also enamelled in dark blue, 10cm diam. and 7.3cm high.