Compendium

• Accession Number:AKM625
• Place:Iran
• Dimensions:Diameter 9 cm
• Date:first half of the 19th century
• Materials and Technique:gold; enamelled

• The compendium reflects the nineteenth-century Iranian taste for personal luxury objects and interest in scientific knowledge and trade with Europe during the Qajar period (1779–1925). The art and craft of enamel-making in Iran was influenced by European and Russian examples and continued to be produced with high quality throughout this era. [1]

Further Reading

Either hung from a chain or held in a pocket, the compendium is elaborately decorated with polychrome-enamelled floral motifs. It contains two compartments on each side, one small, one large. A compass is in the small compartment, while a universal equinoctial dial is found in the large one, along with the face of a crowned man surrounded by radiating sunrays, similar to representations of some historical Iranian kings.

The large compartment on the other side contains a painting of a horseman carrying a falcon on his hand, accompanied by a young servant. His attire and the composition of the painting are reminiscent of hunting scenes from the courts of India. On top, there is a small hollow compartment that might have been used as a snuff box.

— Bita Pourvash

Note
[1] Layla S. Diba, “Enamel,” Encyclopaedia Iranica 8, fasc. 4 (1998): 424–28.

Reference
Diba, Layla S. “ENAMEL,” Encyclopædia Iranica, VIII/4, Accessed September 18, 2018, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/enamel