Penbox with Portrait of Muhammad Shah Qajar
Not on view
This penbox bears a portrait of the third ruler of the Qajar dynasty, Muhammad Shah (r. 1834–1848) on the lid. The ruler is seated on a jeweled throne in a Europeanizing landscape. He wears a European military uniform with trousers and a jacket with epaulettes and holds a pistol yet dons an astrakhan hat with with a paisley-shaped aigrette and a bejeweled belt and armbands (bazubands). The eclectic details of costume and the setting, mixing traditional and European elements is characteristic of the "in-between" positioning of Muhammad Shah's reign.
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