File:Self-portrait of Mohammad Hosayni Esfahani (detail), from a Qajar lacquer papier mache Royal Pen-Box (qalamdan-i kayani), Persia, dated 1879.jpg

English: A Qajar lacquer papier mache Royal Pen-Box (qalamdan-i kayani) by Sayyid Muhammad

Persia, dated AH 1297/ AD 1879

of elongated oval form with sliding drawer, decorated in gilt and polychrome, the top depicting court scenes with Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and other kings from Firdausi's Shahnama; the sides with images from the Shahnama and Nizami's Haft Paykar; the base with further scenes from Nizami; the drawer showing mainly scenes from Attar's Tadhkirat al-Awliya; the interior of the drawer with floral sprays on a gold ground, the base with a portrait of a youth and a self-portrait of the artist, cartouches containing verses of poetry and identification inscriptions; with inscribed silver-gilt inkwell 23.8 cm. long

Royal Pen-Boxes This pen-box is belongs to a group known as qalamdan-i kayani or "royal penbox", notable for their style of decoration, with figural scenes extending to the base of the cover, and to the sides, base and sometimes to the inside of the sliding drawer as in the present lot. The basic template for the layout is common to extant examples and these pen-boxes were clearly made to order rather than as workshop pieces for the market. The figures surrounding the Shah differ from example to example and many represent known personalities. Generally, the theme of kingship dominates the exterior whilst the internal decoration consists of panels showing miracles and other episodes from the lives of Sufis.

There are five pen-boxes of similar decorative composition in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection, London (Khalili et al., op. cit., cat. nos. 250-254), none identical, but sharing similar themes. Only two are signed (cat. nos. 250 & 252) and they are by two different painters. Cat. nos. 251 and 252 bear the same couplet in praise of Nasir al-Din Shah, but in terms of decoration, cat. no. 250 by the artist Muhammad Ismail bears the closest comparison and shares almost identical iconography.

The Artist The importance of this pen-box is not only the colophon, but also the only-known self-portrait of the artist. Sayyid Muhammad was a painter of the Nasir al-Din Shah period. Karimzadeh has identified him as the son of Mirza Kazim Husayni of Shiraz, who worked in portraiture. His only recorded portrait is a watercolour of an old man in the style of San' al-Mulk (M.A. Karimzadeh-Tabrizi, The Lives and Art of Old Painters of Iran, vol. 2, London, 1990, p. 606). The depictions on this pen-box are consistent with this since the quality of portraiture is very fine on this scale, with great detail given to each face. The same attention to detail is seen in the small inscriptions identifying many of the main characters.

Six other known pieces are signed "Sayyid Muhammad" : two bindings, one of which was "completed in AH 1274/ AD 1857-8 in Isfahan in the workshop of his excellency Aqa Sayyid Muhammad"; a large pen-box made in AH 1280/ AD 1863-4; a pair of doors signed "Sayyid Muhammad Isfahani", but undated (Karimzadeh-Tabrizi, 1990, pp. 650-51); a lacquered fan in the Khalili Collection (Nasser D. Khalili et al., Lacquer from Islamic Lands, Part two, London, 1997, p. 104, cat. no. 312) was produced in his workshop in AH 1286/ AD 1869-70, assumed to then be in Tehran (to where he is believed to have moved his atelier); and another pen-box of similar composition and dated AH 1297/ AD 1879-80 was offered at Christie's in 2005 (Christie's, Islamic Art and Manuscripts, 26th April 2005, lot 200).

The Imagery and Inscriptions The top has a central cartouche depicting Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar sitting on the Peacock throne flanked by princes on the left, and ministers and court officials, ambassadors and foreign dignitaries on the right, inscription-filled cartouches above and below with a couplet in his praise. The Christie's pen-box executed in the same year depicts a similar court scene, some of the main figures identified in Persian nasta'liq script. Noticeably missing in the our pen-box is the white-bearded vizier, Mirza Yusif Mustawfi al-Mamalik and the British ambassador Sir Robert Murdoch-Smith. The figure to the Shah's immediate left differs also: whereas the Christie's example depicts Zill al-Sultan, the Bonhams' pen-box depicts the Crown Prince Muzaffar al-Din Shah (c.f. a contemporary portrait by Mirza Hasan Khan in the collection of M. Metghalchi published in Julian Raby, Qajar Portraits, London, 1999, pp. 68-69, cat. no. 125).

Other cartouches to either side of the Nasir al-Din Shah scene contain depictions of the courts of Persian kings mentioned in Firdousi's Shahnama: Kay Kawus and Kay Khusraw on the throne with attendants, a few identified as Zal, Sarv, Qarin, Gudarz and Giv; Faridun on the throne with Zahhak identified; Kay Khusraw on the throne with Garsivaz and Afrasiyab identified; Manuchehr and Faridun on the throne with Qarin and Sarv identified.

On the sides in cartouches are verses mentioning Persian kings also mainly from the Shahnama and praises of speech and written words; and portraits are identified as Darab, Anushirvan, Iskandar (Alexander), Sultan Sanjar depicting him when listening to the old woman who had received injustice; and from the Makhzan al-Asrar of Nizami (the only story that is not from the Shahnama in this section), Bahman, Bu Zarjomehr and Isfandiyar.

On the base is a depiction of Bahram's Seven Pavilions from Nizami's Haft Paykar, each with an accompanying couplet (not found in the accepted version of Nizami's Khamsah); with colophon (in the two cartouches at the two ends) stating: 'amal-e bandeh-ye astan sayyid muhammad-e naqqash/ fi shahr-e muharram al-haram sana 1297, 'Work of the slave of the court Sayyid Muhammad the painter in the month of muharram al-haram, the year 1297 (December 1879-January 1880)'.

The images on the drawer are scenes showing events of Sufis lives most probably from the Tadhkirat al-Awliya by 'Attar, including Shaykh Baha'i, Shams-e Tabrizi, Sultan Bayazid Bastami, Abu'l-Hasan Kharaqani and Ibrahim Adham; portraits identified as Nur 'Ali Shah, Mushtaq 'Ali, Surkh 'Ali, 'Attar, Shafi'a, Shah Ni'matullah Vali and Divaneh.

Inside the drawer is a portrait of the artist himself with inscription stating: 'Sayyid Muhammad naqqash (the painter) AH 1297 (AD 1879-80)';

The Inkwell

The inscription on the inkwell is Qavam Huzur and is a court official's title. According I'timad al-Saltanah, (I. Afshar (ed.), Ruznameh-ye Khaterat-e I'timad al-Saltanah, Tehran, 2536, p. 1038), this title was given to the son of Mu'tamid al-Saltanah, the later famous Ahmad Qavam al-Saltanah in AH 1313/AD 1895-6 and was the first time such a title is recorded. In another book written on the first 40 years of Nasir al-Din Shah's reign, also by I'timad al-Saltanah, there is no mention of the title. Therefore, the inkwell must have been added after AH 1313.