A FOLIO FROM THE NASIR AL-DIN SHAH ALBUM WITH DÉCOUPAGE CALLIGRAPHY AND DECORATIVE BORDER
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Qajar Iran, circa 1888

Opaque pigments heightened with gold and silver on polychrome paper laid down on card, the central folio with a bold Persian nasta'liq mashq découpé calligraphic composition painted in red and set against a black ground embellished with stylised silver scrolling vegetal trellis, the exercise mostly focused on the S, T, and the KH connections, the serrated leaf connections linking the verticals, the calligraphic panel set within pink and gold rules, and light blue card borders with polychrome découpé foliage, roundels and abstract geometric motifs, signed Emad al Hasani, the recto plain, the text panel 34cm x 20.5cm, the folio 43.8cm x 28.8cm.

A folio with the same calligraphic quatrain and an analogous découpé border signed by Muhammad Husayn was sold at Christie's London, 21 April 2016, lot 133. Another folio from the same album without calligraphy but only découpé decorations, once part of the same private collection of our lot, was sold last year at Christie's London, 1 April 2021, lot 33. It seems plausible that once, these folios were all part of the now dispersed royal album made for Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar in 1888 to commemorate his 40th anniversary of accession to the throne.