English: A QAJAR LACQUER CASKET BY MUHAMMAD ISMA'IL AND MUSTAFA

IRAN, MID AND LATE 19TH CENTURY

Of shallow rectangular form with seperate cover, the top painted with a depiction of the siege of Herat, Muhammad Shah on horseback in the foreground, the scene populated by huge numbers of soldiers and other figures, the front of the box showing Muhammad Shah inspecting his troops, the back with Muhammad Shah enthroned surrounded by his courtiers and royal princes, the left hand side showing him hunting, the top and these three sides attributed to Muhammad Isma'il, the fourth side also depicting Muhammad Shah hunting signed by Mustafa and dated AH 1309, the interior of the cover with similar hunting scene flanked by landscape cartouches and portrait roundels also signed by Mustafa and dated AH 1309, cleaned and lightly re-varninshed, some areas of damage to original paint 7in. (17.8cm.) high; 19¾in. wide; 15¼in. (38.8cm.) deep

The signature inside the cover reads Raqam-e bandeh-ye dargah Mustafa [1]3[0]9 (Drawn by the servant of the Court, Mustafa, [1]3[0]9AH). The inscriptions around the lid are initially from the Qur'an, Sura al-Baqara (II) 255 and 256, followed by: Dar 'ahd-e padshah-e jamjah Nasir al-Din Shah-e Qajar Khallad Allah mulkuhu bi-amr-e janab-e jalalat athar-e ajall-e Akram Mirza Mahmud Valad-e marhum-e Sahib-e Divan bi-etmam rasid sana [1]3[0]9 which translates "It was completed during the regin of the King who has the rank of Jam, Nasir al-Din Shah of Qajar - may God make his kingdom eternal - by the order of His Excellency who has signs of grandeur, the most glorious, the most generous Mirza Mahmud, the eldest son of the deceased Sahib Divan, the year [1]3[0]9" (1891-2AD).

Mirza Mahmud (b.1250AH/1834/5AD) was the son of Mirza Shafi' Sahib Divan (d.1272AH/1855/6AD). He entered goverment office during his father's life and became a mustawfi after his father's death. He worked as a mustawfi in Natanz, Damavand and Firuzkuh, Mashhad and Hamadan. He worked as the first mustawfi of Khorassan between 1300 (1882/3AD) and 1310 (1892/3AD) (M. Bamdad, Dictionary of National Biography of Iran, 1700-1900, vol 4, Tehran, 1966, pp/47-9).

While the documentary inscriptions clearly relate to the completion of the box by Mustafa for Mirza Mahmud, it is the top and the three sides that are not signed that are of the greatest interest here. These are clearly the work of Muhammad Isma'il, who was the most accomplished painter in Isfahan at the time. The subject of the top, Muhammad Shah's siege of Herat, is the same, and the composition clearly relates closely, to that of the casket in the Bern Historical Museum (B. W. Robinson, "Persian Lacquer in the Bern Historical Museum", Iran, Vol.VIII, 1970, reprinted in B. W. Robinson, Studies in Persian Art, Vol.1, 1993, pp.268-282; the top also reproduced in colour in Maryam Ekhtiar, "Muhammad Isma'il Isfahani: Master Lacquer Painter", in Sheila R. Canby (ed.), Persian Masters, Five Centuries of Painting, Marg, Bombay, 1990, pp.136-7). The Bern casket is signed by Muhammad Isma'il and dated AH 1262/1865 AD. The present casket, which is larger than the Bern casket, seems to be a later stage in the siege, with the army within the outer wall, and the whole composition seen from a higher viewpoint. Muhammad Isma'il painted other similar scenes on two penboxes in the Khalili Collection (Nasser D. Khalili, B.W. Robinson and Tim Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands Part Two, London, 1997, no.243, p.51 and nos.246 and 247, pp.54, 56 and 57). The front of the present lot also has the same composition of Muhammad Shah reviewing his troops who are arranged in a square that is seen on the Bern casket.

The hand of Muhammad Isma'il is also clearly seen in the extraordinary versatility shown in his depiction of the minute faces of Muhammad Shah and his court seen on the back. Not only the Shah, but also all the courtiers in his immediate vicinity are extremely naturalistically rendered. This is an element where he excelled above all other artists. Similar work can be found on a penbox sold in these Rooms 12 October 2004, lot 99.