Qalamdan pencil box with scenes from Nezâmî's Haft Peykar, Iran qâjâr, 19th century Oblong papier-mâché pen tray with painted, gilded and lacquered decoration depicting several animated scenes of characters in scrolled cartouches and a few portraits in oval medallions, set against a background of foliage scrolls housing small inscribed cartouches. Calligraphied in Persian nast'aliq, these cartouches caption scenes illustrating King Bahram V's visit to princesses in colorful pavilions, as recounted in Nezâmî's Ketâb Haft Paykar. Length: 23.4 cm Minor chips, pencil box glazed over. The Ketâb Haft Paykar, or Book of Seven Beauties, is a romantic epic by the Persian poet Nezâmî, contained in his Khamseh, written in 1197. The epic features the Sassanid king Bahram V, who, having fallen in love with the portraits of seven princesses, decides to marry them and build them a pavilion, each in a color corresponding to the climate and planet it embodies. He visits them every day of the week, enjoying the stories they tell him. A Qajar Lacquered Papier-mâché Qalamdan with Scenes from Haft Peykar by Nezâmî, Iran, 19th century