Lot Essay
Ghulam Reza al-Imami was a painter particularly in favour with the Qajar court. In AH 1283/1866-67 AD he was commissioned by the Iranian government to paint what was to become his most celebrated work, a mirror case that was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. The mirror case was later purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and is said to be the finest example of book-binder’s lacquer in the museum’s collection (Nasser D. Khalili, B.W.Robinson and Tim Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands, Part Two, London, 1997, p.90).