BY 'ALI ASHRAF, DATED AH 1168/1754-5 AD

Details

A POST SAFAVID PENBOX (QALAMDAN)
By 'Ali Ashraf, dated AH 1168/1754-5 AD
With rounded ends and sliding tray, the black top painted with a vertical composition of a young lady leaning against a flowering prunus trees with perching birds, in a darkened landscape with the sun radiating from above, signed to the right of the figure in gold, the black sides with a variety of flowering sprays, the red base probably later painted with simple gold motifs, the red tray with elegant gold floral sprays, slight restoration to ends, re-lacquered, small chips
9in. (22.7cm.) long

Special notice

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Lot Essay

'Ali Ashraf was famed for his gul-o bulbul designs and was the best artist of his generation. It is his bindings that enclose both the Windsor Castle Shahnameh and the St. Petersburg muraqqa. His figural depictions are very rare, particularly full-length examples, as here. For a discussion of this artist, together with a wide selection of his works, please see Khalili, Nasser D., Robinson, B.W. and Stanley, Tim: Lacquer of the Islamic Lands, part 1, London 1996, pp.72-97, esp. pp.72-74). Despite the breadth of the selection there, no figural examples are to be found in that collection.

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