The primary function of a pen box (qalamdan) was as a writing implement - made of papier mache, wood or other materials, including precious metals – intended to hold a number of tools associated with the art and act of writing, including reed pens, an inkwell, liqah (a cotton wool substance used to absorb excess ink), a penknife, a qat’zan (a flat resting board made of horn), a whetstone, a small spoon, and a pair of scissors. These accessories were considered essential elements for a scribe. The box that kept these elements was deemed, by association, as important as the person who handled its contents, with the quality of the box’s decoration directly reflecting the status of the scribe or patron.

Pen boxes were carried by penmen of all ranks, often tucked into the shawls tied around their waists, symbolising a badge of their trade. So esteemed was the pen box that even Shahs commissioned them; these rare examples are confirmed by their inscriptions. The earliest specimens of this type date from the reign of Shah Sulayman Safavi (1664-95), but later Qajar examples commissioned by members of high bureaucracy also exist throughout the nineteenth century.

This pen box bears the inscription ‘O King of Najaf’, which refers directly to the Imam ‘Ali but was used, upon this pen box, as an allusion to the famous Qajar painter Najaf ‘Ali. Aqa Najaf, as he is also known, was responsible for fine lacquer pieces produced sometime between the 1810s and the 1860s, with a style that formed a bridge between the works of the later 18th century and the long reign of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar (1848-1896), during which the sons of Najaf Ali continued to play a leading role in lacquer production. The inscription upon this particular pen box alludes to the great master painter, but was most likely painted by a different artist at a later date.