A QAJAR LACQUERED PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEN CASE (QALAMDAN) Iran, early to mid 19th century, Mohammad Zaman school With rounded ends and sliding tray, the top with a horizontal composition of varied feminine scenes, the centre with an odalisque half-clad in diaphanous drapery in a landscape with a Western-looking edifice in the background fixing the viewer with a knowing look, flanked by scenes of frolicking female bathers, possibly the ritualistic pre-wedding bath or the post-natal one, the sides and ends with a narrative cycle of life and death,possibly relating to Armenian Christian iconography, with a candlelit birthing scene and the narrative of an old man's illness and recovery,the scenes divided by stylised floral cartouches in gold, polychrome painted against translucent light amber ground, the red underside with gilt and dark green grapes and scrolling vine leaves, the inner sides in black with gold borders,wrapped in draw-string pouch croched with geometric forms in orange and purple, 22cm x 4cm x 3cm. The theme of this qalamdan is not entirely obvious, but the common thread is clearly a celebration of female life-giving, bonding and healing arts, possibly inspired by the late Safavid text Aqa'id al Nisa' (Beliefs of Women). One scene depicts a young mother attended by midwives and supported by helpers, wearing a talismanic necklace, grasping her own knee, while attendants bathe the new-born and prepare to swaddle him, a young female attendant bearing a tray containing protective items to safe-guard the mother and child from the evil Aal,the sword to be used for drawing the khatt magic circle of safety on the ground around the precious new life. The following frames relate to young men discovering a man in poor state of health, and his transference to the care and attention of young ladies as he lies unconscious and vulnerable. The opening end of the sliding tray with a scene of country life: a seated female spinner with a toddler grasping her back, a young man carrying a calf on his shoulders, and a young lady tending the sheep by a tent. The presence of Western-style buildings and compositional short-hands make it a likely Armenian production. The birthing scene shares several pictorial devices with an analogous scene on a mirror case inMassumeh Farhad, Mary McWilliams and Simon Rettig,A Collector’s Passion: Ezzat-Malek Soudavar and Persian Lacquer, Washington DC, 2017, p. 61, inv. no. 2014.383.