Pen box with scenes from Nizami's tale of Bahram Gur and the Seven Princesses

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with three tri-lobed cartouches alternating with two oval medallions. The tri-lobed cartouches contain figural vignettes, and the oval medallions contain female portrait busts. The inscriptions under the medallion portrait on the left identify the artist Muhammad Kazim and the date 1296 H. (1878-1879). The sides are similarly composed, with a central portrait medallion flanked by tri-lobed cartouches. The seven cartouches each contain a vignette of the Sasanian king Bahram Gur being entertained by one of the seven princesses whom he visits sequentially in the 12th century Persian poem Haft paykar (Seven Beauties) by Nizami. Inscriptions in small oblong panels identify each princess by the color of her pavilion. The base is painted with a gold arabesque on a red ground.