English: A large painted lacquer bookcover

Persia, 19th Century

Painted and gilded lacquer board, a central cartouche depicting an enthroned ruler approached by a sage, with two courtiers looking on, against a ground with gold floral motifs on a burgundy ground, floral cornerpieces, inner borders with several cartouches containing Persian inscriptions in naskhi script 437 x 297 mm.

The inscriptions consist of a ghazal of Hafiz, ending with:

dar zaman-e dawlat-e al-sultan a[gha?] Muhammad khan qajar khallad allah mulkahu be-yadd-e aqall 'ibad mirza hasan mudhahhib semat-e etmam padhiroft sanah 1202

'It was completed during the time of the reign of the sultan A[gha?) Muhammad Khan Qajar, may his kingdom be ever-lasting, by the smallest of the servants (of God) Mirza Hasan, the illuminator (mudhahhib) in the year 1202 (1787-8)'.