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Lot Essay
A number of qalamdans decorated in the same manner are known. A French traveller to Persia, Hommaire de Hell mentions a penbox painted with scenes of the Last Judgment and heaven and hell in his Voyage en Turquie et en Perse account (Paris, 1854, vol.III, p.18). Heaven is depicted with groups of men and women enjoying all the benefits of heaven around the Prophet Muhammad: "la composition annonce une imagination passablement érotique. Le Paradis est representé par un groupe d'hommes et de femmes s'abandonnant aux délices éternelles qui attendent les fidèles croyants dans le Paradis de Mahomet". The penbox described by Hommaire de Hell was almost certainly exhibited in Cairo in 1935 and later sold at Sotheby's on 9 October 1978. It was completed by Isma'il Jalayir after having been left unfinished by a deaf-mute painter, possibly Muhammad Afshar Naqqash-Bashi mentionned in de Hell's account. It is dated Sunday 8 Sha'ban AH 1277 by Jalayir.
Another penbox decorated with Heaven, Hell and Armageddon, signed by Shukrullah Afshar and dated AH 1248, is in the Los Angeles Museum of Art (https://collections.lacma.org/node/239961). This may mean that the subject was a speciality of the Afshar family. Another was sold (after sale) at Christie's South Kensington, 22 April 2013, lot 195.
Another penbox decorated with Heaven, Hell and Armageddon, signed by Shukrullah Afshar and dated AH 1248, is in the Los Angeles Museum of Art (https://collections.lacma.org/node/239961). This may mean that the subject was a speciality of the Afshar family. Another was sold (after sale) at Christie's South Kensington, 22 April 2013, lot 195.