A BRONZE PEN-BOX, PERSIA, CIRCA 1200

Of elongated oval form, the hinged cover decorated with two roundels each with geometric on a scrolling foliate ground, the mounts with ornate openwork designs of interlacing foliate motifs, the interior with a well mount with an arch-form hinged cover. 27 cm length.

CATALOGUE NOTE
The elaborate mounts on this pen-box are testimony to the origins of the form in wood or ivory, where such reinforcement would have been necessary. The date of this type of bronze pen-box is confirmed by another example in the Freer Gallery, Washington, which is inlaid with a date of 607 AH/1210-11 AD (Atil 1990, p.96,fig.10). Following the shift of centers of production following the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century, the form appears in more westward regions of the Islamic world. For instance, a pen-box of this type from Syria or Turkey, dating from the first half of the 13th century, is in the al-Sabah Collection (Atil 1990,p.140, no.40)
A comparable pen-box is in the L.A. Mayer Memorial Museum, Jerusalem (Baer, p.70, fig.50)