Safavid Frame Mirror, Iran, Isfahan and Europe, 1st half of the 17th century. Amalgam mirror and polychrome painting in shellac on wood, 39 x 34 x 2 cm. SÃO ROQUE, LISBON at TEFAF 2024. © 2024 TEFAF

Provenance: Private collection, Spain.

This unique amalgam mirror, with its ‘lacquered’ wooden frame, bridges Persia and Europe, East and West, in different ways. The mirror is European and features wheel-engraved decoration. The frame, masterfully painted in brightly coloured shellac highlighted in gold, was made in Safavid Iran during the later years of Shah ‘Abbas’s reign.

The painted decoration, in the style of contemporary courtly manuscripts and luxurious book bindings, consists of episodes of the well-known Nizami’s Khamsa. Among the characters, two male and female figures are dressed in European, likely Portuguese attire. This rare object mirrors the cosmopolitanism of Safavid society and a growing interest in European commodities and aesthetics at the Persian court.