the top with a central portrait of a Christian saint with clasped hands flanked by urban and pastoral landscapes including the Khaju Bridge and the Ali Qapu Palace in Isfahan, sides painted with scenes probably from the story of Shaykh Sinan and the Christian maiden, drawer richly decorated with intertwining stylised flowerheads and serrated leaves in gold on a red ground, underside decorated with pheasants amidst vegetal and floral motifs in gold on a black ground, with a silver-gilt inkwell, signed ya Shah-i Najaf 1272
228 mm. long, 40 mm. wide

Footnotes

Najaf 'Ali is considered the most celebrated lacquer master of the mid-19th Century and founded a dynasty of artists who worked on lacquer until the end of the Qajar period. His name was Najaf 'Ali or Aga Najaf but signed his work with the invocation Ya Shah-i Najaf ('O King of Najaf'), referring to the burial site of the Imam 'Ali. Najaf 'Ali often depicted Christian scenes such as the Holy Family (probably commissioned by the Armenian community of Julfa in Isfahan) and copied European style paintings and prints on his lacquer pieces. For examples see N. Khalili, B. W. Robinson and T. Stanley, Lacquer of The Islamic Lands, Part Two, London 1997, pp. 39-40, nos. 234-236 and pp. 75-76, nos. 267-268. For another Persian lacquer penbox with an identical portrait of a Christian saint, see Christie's, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 6th October 2011, lot 272. For other pencases signed Shah-i Najaf sold at auction see Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 28th April 2004, lots 42 and 118.

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- Islamic and Indian Art

A polychrome lacquer papier mache penbox (qalamdan), signed by Najaf 'Ali Qajar Persia, probably Isfahan, dated AH 1272/AD 1855-56

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Matthew Thomas