Lot 182
182
A FINE ZAND POYCHROME LACQUER BOOK COVER, the obverse of each board painted on a gold glitter ground with fine floral sprays around a cusped cartouche within moulded frame portraying a seated figure within an interior with landscape visible through the window beyond, a cusped pendant panel above and below with iris sprays, the black spandrels with gold palmette vine, in a brown border of fine flowering vine between small similar stripes, the reverse of each painted on a red ground with rich gold scrolling palmette vine around a variety of different pale gold animals, in narrow black and gold floral border, mid 18th century (minute repainting on exterior, interior with slight flaking)

Details
A FINE ZAND POYCHROME LACQUER BOOK COVER, the obverse of each board painted on a gold glitter ground with fine floral sprays around a cusped cartouche within moulded frame portraying a seated figure within an interior with landscape visible through the window beyond, a cusped pendant panel above and below with iris sprays, the black spandrels with gold palmette vine, in a brown border of fine flowering vine between small similar stripes, the reverse of each painted on a red ground with rich gold scrolling palmette vine around a variety of different pale gold animals, in narrow black and gold floral border, mid 18th century (minute repainting on exterior, interior with slight flaking)
15 5/8 x 11 1/8in. (39.7 x 28.2cm.)

Lot Essay

This very large bookcover shows typical Zand elements combined with motifs from the earlier Safavid period. The clothing and relaxed attitude of the central figures on each side are typical of the Zand era, but the fine detailing of the floral elements in the border harks back to the designs used, for example, in the Leningrad album. The doublures are even more remarkable; with their combination of two different colours of gold and their depiction of animals within scrolling foliage, they are purely 17th century in inspiration.

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