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Lot Essay
The portraits that decorate this qalamdan are those of masters of calligraphy and their pupils. Along the top of the qalamdan these include Ustad Shafi'a, Darvish Majid and Mirza Ahmad Nayrizi. Around the sides are portraits of Mirza Hassan Kirmani, Ibrahim Qumi, Khwaja Yaqut al-Musta'simi and Mawlana Pir Nur.
In the pale blue cartouches on the top of the qalamdan is a commissioning inscription, hasb al-farmayesh-e janab-e jalalatma'ab-e ajall-e akram aqa-ye mustawfi al-mamalik dama zillahu al-'ali, 'By the order of His Excellency, exalted in dignity, the most glorious, the most generous, the master Mustawfi al-Mamalik'. Mirza Yusuf Mustawfi al-Mamalik (d. 1886) was the Finance Minister under Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar.
Kazim ibn Najaf 'Ali was the son of the celebrated Najaf 'Ali Naqqashbashi. Other qalamdans by him are dated AH 1278/1861-2 AD, AD 1289/1872-73 AD and AH 1295/1878-79 AD and include one example in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Tehran (Karimzadeh Tabrizi, Ahval ve asar-e naqqashan-e qadimi-i iran, London, 1985, no. 1129, pp. 1073-1077).
In the pale blue cartouches on the top of the qalamdan is a commissioning inscription, hasb al-farmayesh-e janab-e jalalatma'ab-e ajall-e akram aqa-ye mustawfi al-mamalik dama zillahu al-'ali, 'By the order of His Excellency, exalted in dignity, the most glorious, the most generous, the master Mustawfi al-Mamalik'. Mirza Yusuf Mustawfi al-Mamalik (d. 1886) was the Finance Minister under Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar.
Kazim ibn Najaf 'Ali was the son of the celebrated Najaf 'Ali Naqqashbashi. Other qalamdans by him are dated AH 1278/1861-2 AD, AD 1289/1872-73 AD and AH 1295/1878-79 AD and include one example in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Tehran (Karimzadeh Tabrizi, Ahval ve asar-e naqqashan-e qadimi-i iran, London, 1985, no. 1129, pp. 1073-1077).