[Qajar Mirror Case]. Khatamkari style mirror case from the Qajar era.

€ 2.500,00

An elegant Persian Qajar rectangular mirror case, lid made of wood, decorated in a fine micro-mosaic khatamkari style, from the end of 19th century. The two-piece mirror, connected with hinges, can stand upright when placed on a flat surface and can be closed with a small metal hook. The entire exterior is polychrome decorated with gilt, mother of pearl, and bone. In the khatamkari style, the masterful decoration is created by inlaying mosaics into the wood to create repeating patterns of stars and geometric shapes coloured in white, orange, green, red, black and gilt. Large six-pointed stars filled with hexagons were used as the central decoration, while vector shapes are inlaid in the outer frame.

Geometric patterns are among the most widely used ornaments in Islamic art, along with calligraphy and vegetal patterns. Khatamkari, an extension of this ornament tradition, is an elegant and meticulous art of micromosaic inlay, the earliest examples of which date back to the Safavid period. It is created by decorating the surfaces of objects in various geometric shapes and patterns with mosaics cut from materials such as wood, bone and metal. Although the art of khatamkari declined after the Safavid period, it became celebrated again, especially during the Qajar period. "Under the patronage of the Qajar rulers, especially Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-96), as well as other members of the court and the elite, the centre of the art of khatam was revived as craftsmen moved from Shiraz to Tehran to establish a new centre of production in the capital" (Golmohammadi). A very similar mirror can be found in the collections of Victoria and Albert Museum (1527:1-1871).