SCHOOL OF MUHAMMAD ISMA'IL, QAJAR IRAN, CIRCA 1855-60

Of rectangular form, the front painted with three oval medallions formed by gilt palmettes, depicting mythical and historical figures in courtly scenes, each identified in nasta'liq script, including Shaykh San'an, Mawlana Rumi, Baba Tahir, the spandrels with birds in rose bushes, gilt foliage on brown and green ground around, the reverse with similar decoration, the lid's reverse with 'Ali, Hasan and Husayn seated against a green background, each side between fine gilt floral borders 9 5/8 x 6¼in. (24.5 x 15.8cm.)

Muhammad Isma'il was a painter of the Qajar period whose recorded works are dated between AH 1256/1840-41 AD and AH 1288/1871-72 AD. He received the title naqqash-bashi ('chief painter'), from Nasir al-Din Shah circa AH 1275/1858-59 AD. For more information on Muhammad Isma'il see Nasser D. Khalili, B.W.Robinson and Tim Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands, Vol. II, London, 1997, p. 46 and M.A.Karimzadeh Tabrizi, The Lives Art of Old Painters of Iran, Vol. I, London, 1985, pp. 66-76.