{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O112123"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O112123/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BR3922/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BR3922/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BR3922","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BF0433","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BR3924","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9869","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9870","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9871","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9872","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9873","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9874","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9875","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9876","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9877","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN9878","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O112123/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O112123","accessionNumber":"2405-1876","objectType":"Box","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"From the fifteenth century onward, objects made of \"bookbinder's lacquer\" – including bookbindings, pen boxes, mirror cases and caskets such as this one – gained popularity in Iran, peaking in production during the nineteenth century. This exceptional casket bears an invocation of the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who is known as the \"Lord of Time\" (Sahib al-Zaman), as he will re-appear at the end of ages. This invocation seems to have been used by painters called Muhammad Zaman as a cryptic signature, and the painting on the lid of this casket is indeed in the style of the Safavid court artist Muhammad Zaman ibn Hajji Yusuf, developed by him under the patronage of the Safavid ruler Shah Sulayman (reigned 1666-1694). Muhammad Zaman himself had died by the time this casket was produced, in 1714, and it can be attributed to his leading follower, his son Muhammad 'Ali. The dating of this box to 1714 places its production within the reign of Shah Sulayman’s successor, Shah Sultan Husayn (1694-1722).\r\n","physicalDescription":"Rectangular box with a shaped lid, made of bookbinder's lacquer (= moulded pasteboard painted in colours and gold under varnish). The principal scene on the lid is attributed to Muhammad 'Ali, the son of Muhammad Zaman, who flourished in the first third of the eighteenth century. It shows a courtly woman seated upon an open, carpeted terrace with a central pool and a view of a wooded garden beyond. She gazes into a large mirror held by a female attendant, while a musician and other attendants wait upon her orders. The subsidiary surfaces are painted with flowers and birds. The sides of the box are painted in a different style, marked by the use of gold outlines, probably by an artist from the school of Mu'in Musavvir (d. 1683?). The varied scenes on the sides are based on European print sources.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Sahib al-Zaman","id":"A14583"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pasteboard","id":"AAT162474"}],"techniques":[{"text":"opaque watercolour and gold under varnish","id":"THES251603"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"pasteboard, moulded; opaque watercolor and gold under varnish","categories":[{"text":"Islam","id":"THES48932"},{"text":"Lacquerware","id":"THES49004"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2007BR3922","2006BF0433","2007BR3924","2015HN9869","2015HN9870","2015HN9871","2015HN9872","2015HN9873","2015HN9874","2015HN9875","2015HN9876","2015HN9877","2015HN9878"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES367249"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES367249"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Lid","id":""}],[{"text":"Box","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Iran","id":"x30220"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Isfahan","id":"x28926"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1714","earliest":"1714-01-01","latest":"1714-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"13.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Height including lid","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"32.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Length of box","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"22.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Box and lid of bookbinder's lacquer (= moulded pasteboard, painted in colours and gold under varnish), Iran, Safavid period, 1714.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tim Stanley, “Lacquer in the Islamic World” in The World of Lacquer: 2000 Years of History (Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2001), pp157-187."},{"reference":{"text":"Diba, Layla S. (Ed.) <i>Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, 1785-1925 </i> London, 1998","id":"AUTH353276"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"dated AH 1126","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Murdoch Smith, Robert (Sir)","id":"N3570"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"People","id":"AAT24978"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"CASKET\r\nWood, painted and lacquered; on the lid, a princess at her toilet; round the sides, European figures and floral designs. Signed, Sahib al-Zaman.\r\nPERSIAN: dated A.H. 1126 (A.D. 1714).","date":{"text":"Used until 09/1999","earliest":"1999-09-01","latest":"1999-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["2405:2-1876","2405:1-1876"],"accessionNumberNum":"2405","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1876,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Lid","Box"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2005-05-19","availableToBook":true}}