A Trapezoidal Pen Box Inlaid with Silver and Signed by ‘Shadi’
c. 1200-20
Iran, Khurasan; or Afghanistan
26.2 x 4.6 x 2.5; Cast copper alloy; silver and copper inlay; with epigraphic inscriptions in Kufic and naskh script.
A pen box in the form of an isosceles trapezoid, this elegant and functional scribal vessel was assembled from cast and beaten copper alloy plates and then engraved and inlaid with silver. A panel across the top of the sliding cover plate is inscribed in inlaid silver Kufic: “The work of Shadi the designer (ʿamal shādī al-naqqāsh). Five of the letters in the inscription terminate in human and bird heads. A pen box cover also signed in the same manner by the aforementioned ‘Shadi’ is now held in the Khalili Collection, London.
