Pen Box

Scribes, painters, poets, court officials, and everyone who could afford it kept writing tools in special, small, often nicely decorated wooden boxes called qalamdans. Most were decorated with lacquer painting, but from the early periods, only those made of metal survive. Leather boxes such as this—with an elaborate stamped and gilded design—are very rare. Very unusual, also, is the size of this box-- almost fifteen inches long: most measured not more than six to eight inches. There is little question that this pen box, which dates from about 1600, was used in the royal household, if not by the sultan himself. Many Muslim rulers were great bibliophiles and often among the best calligraphers of their time.

[ Stora Art Gallery, New York, by 1927–33; sold to MMA]

Tentoonstelling van Islamische Kunst (Exhibition of Islamic Art). The Hague, The Netherlands, 1927. cat. no. 51.

Grube, Ernst J. "The Ottoman Empire." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 26, no. 5 (January 1968). no. 38, p. 218, ill. (b/w).