A rare Ottoman lacquer papier-mâché Pencase Turkey, late 17th CenturyA rare Ottoman lacquer papier-mâché Pencase Turkey, late 17th Centuryof large rectangular form with rounded ends and vaulted hinged lid, the base with intergral bracket feet at either end, the interior of the lid with arched recess to storage space, decorated to the exterior in polychrome and gilt on a black ground with an interlace of saz leaves and flowers, the top of the lid with a cusped medallion containing an interlace of split-palmettes and trefoil motifs, the interior of the lid with scrolling vegetal interlace, the inner lid lined with rococo polychrome paper, the interior of the box with metal thread silk lining brocaded with stripes and floral motifs, possibly later removable brass inkwell 36.5 cm. longProvenanceChristie's, Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs and Carpets, 20 October 1994, lot 215.Bonhams, Islamic works of Art, 29 April 1998, lot 311. Formerly in a distinguished UK collection of Islamic Art, London.Pen boxes such as this were used by calligraphers to hold their tools, which included reed-pens, ink, a type of knife to cut the reed, as well as scissors. Also included in the set was a makta or rest upon which the reed was placed. This pen box is noteable not only for its scale, but because it relates to a small group of pen boxes produced in Turkey during the 16th and 17th Centuries. The style of lacquer painting is derivative of the so-called saz leaf and rosette style, the leading exponent of which was the court artist Sakkulu, head of the imperial nakkas from 1526 until his death in the mid 16th Century. The style continued until circa 1639 when a series of tiles were produced to decorate the Baghdad Kosk. Examples of early Ottoman pen-boxes are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, January 1968, no. 38) and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. There is also an example in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe (see Ernst Petrasch et al, Die Karlsruher Turkenbeute, Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 1991, pl no. 294). Close comparison of the decoration can be made with a painted wood quiver attributed to the 16th/ 17th Century in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul (Art Treasures of Turkey, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C., 1966, no. 243). The decoration can also be compared with two cylindrical lacquer penboxes in the David Collection, Copenhagen (Inv. nos. 31/1977 and 43/1977). A leather penbox with a comparable shape is in the David Collection (Inv. no. 13/1985). Another copper example is in the Louvre, Paris (Inv. no. 7442).