As its name suggests, the pen box qalamdān was a container for reed pens qalam and other writing implements. These usually included a small metal inkwell, which contained both ink and the floss called liqah which absorbed the ink and prevented it from spilling. Other scribe’s tools kept in penboxes were a penknife for cutting pens on a small board qaṭ‘zan, made from substances such as horn; a small spoon for adding ink; a pair of scissors for cutting paper; and a whetstone for sharpening the penknife and the scissors.

The ability to write held prestige in a society where literacy was limited, and the pen box was therefore a mark of a person of some standing. The quality and content of the pen box’s decoration reflected the status of the owner more precisely.

Lacquer pen boxes, with painted and varnished decoration on a base of pasteboard (also called papier mâché), came into use in the seventeenth century. The earliest dated example was made in Isfahan for Shah Sulayman Safavi (reigned 1664-1695), and by the nineteenth century huge numbers were being made with an enormous variety of decoration.

The top of this pen box shows a beardless official holding court. He was Manuchihr Khan, also known as Mu‘tamad al-Dawlah (d. 1847), a Georgian eunuch who rose to be one of the most powerful men in Iran. In 1839 and 1840 he was resident in Isfahan, and from this time on lacquer wares depicting his deeds were painted by the city’s leading painter, Muhammad Isma‘il.