IRAN, CIRCA 1910

Details

A QAJAR PAPIER MACHÉ GOLD AND BLACK LACQUER MIRROR CASE
Iran, circa 1910
Of rectangular form with separate cover, the black ground of the front and back with a central elaborate gold rosette flanked by further large radiating palemttes and flowerheads, in a double border of similar meandering vine, signed below on the cover, the interior with an elegant similar cusped cartouche with separate pendants on an otherwise plain ground, good condition
11 x 7 3/8in. (28 x 18.7cm.)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

An almost identical mirror case is in the Khalili Collection (LAQ 65: Khalili, Nasser D., Robinson, B.W. and Stanley, Tim: Lacquer of the Islamic Lands, Oxford, 1996, Vol.1, no.113, p.150). The entry on that example notes the similarity of the design with the binding of a manuscript sold in Paris which was dated to 1494. It suggests that the mirror case, (and by association the present example), are a part of the early 20th century revivalist tendency. A further penbox in the Khalili Collection is signed by the same artist, executed in a style dateable to the AH 1320s.

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