SIGNED MUHAMMAD SADIQ AL-IMAMI, IRAN, DATED AH 1287/1870-71 AD

This pencase was produced by a member of the famous family of lacquer artisans active in Isfahan in the 18th and 19th Centuries known as the Imami workshop. The artisans claimed descent from the Prophet's grandson Husayn and thus used the epithet 'Imami. They were particularly known for their gul-o bulbul compositions such as that found on our pencase (Nasser D. Khalili, B.W. Robinson, and Tim Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands, Part 2, London, 1997, nos. 292 and 293).