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Lid of a tool kit depicting the Holy Family
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Description
This cover belongs to a surgeon’s kit complete with two drawers with utensils. The cover’s elaborate decoration - featuring Christian themes including the Holy Family - is clearly the work of a skilled and versatile artist familiar with foreign stylistic conventions. European subjects appear frequently in the work of Najaf ‘Ali, an artist active in Isfahan in the 19th century. The quality of the design and scale of the work are such that the kit may well have been executed by him and have been made for an important recipient.
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- c. 1830
- Artist/maker
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possibly Najaf ‛Ali (active c. 1815 - 1860) (artist)
- Material and technique
- wood, covered with papier mâché, painted with watercolour, and coated with lacquer
- Dimensions
- 39.5 x 26 x 6.5 cm (height x width x depth)
- Material index
- Technique index
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- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Transferred from the Museum of History of Science, 1955.
- Accession no.
- EA1955.1.1
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Further reading
Allan, James, and Brian Gilmour, Persian Steel: The Tanavoli Collection, Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, 15 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 383-386, figs 55 b & c
Glossary
lacquer
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lacquer
Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
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