Hand-painted camel bone jewelry box with a Persian miniature design inspired by the love story of "Leyli and Majnun."

Rectangular camel bone jewellery box measuring 7.5 x 5 x 2.5 cm, hand-crafted and painted with a very fine miniature design inspired by the tragic love story of “Leyli and Majnun”, which takes place in 7th century Arabia, often compared to that of Romeo and Juliet but with a difference of more than 1000 years between the two and which also enjoys great popularity among the Turks and throughout the Middle East. Although this popular Arabic tale was already known previously in the Persian Empire, it was the innovative poetic work of Nizami Ganjaví in the 12th century that popularised it in a spectacular way in the literary world and of which many versions and imitations have been made, considered as the most famous romance of Persian culture.

The central figure is worked with great delicacy thanks to the use of cat hair brushes, taking the utmost care of the detail; the artist uses gold on the character's clothing and accessories to give greater realism and a more luxurious appearance to the composition. In an idyllic setting, sitting in the middle of nature, Leyli plays the "setar", a Persian plucked string instrument widely used in Persian musical culture. Beautiful floral and vegetation drawings are spread throughout every corner of the work, all covered with a varnish that protects and provides that unmistakable shine to this type of piece.

The tibia is usually used to make these works of art, which is treated in special workshops in a long and arduous process in which different chemical substances are applied to achieve a completely clean finish. The material is then cut to make the desired piece, sanded and after drawing the design with a pencil, it is painted with natural pigments. In the Persian miniature, the artist does not put so much emphasis on drawing human figures as on depicting luxurious clothing on the bodies of his characters, which gives a lot of scope to his creativity.

This magnificent work is the work of Master Chaichian, one of the great miniaturists, disciple of the famous artist Mahmud Farshchian, who has played a decisive role in the history of Persian miniature, both for his innovative nature, fusing styles due to his training in Europe, and for his great contribution to the international expansion of this art, since his works have been exhibited in exhibitions and museums around the world. With his characteristic style, Chaichian decorates all kinds of boxes and frames with inlays, objects made with camel bone such as jewelry boxes or kohl containers, ostrich eggs, backgammon and chess boards or traditional wooden mirrors, among other things, with hunting scenes, literary and mythological characters, chovgan or tazhib.