A Qajar coco de mer Kashkul, depicting Imam Husayn and his son 'Ali Asghar Persia, 19th Century


of typical form, profusely engraved with two bands of inscription-filled cartouches, interspersed by bands containing floral vines and cable design, the base with a large cartouche containing a rosette on a ground of floral interlace, surrounded by four perching birds, the shoulder with the Imam Husayn and his son 'Ali Ashgar on horseback overlooked by angels, brass suspension loops and chain 31 cm. long
|Inscriptions: Qur'an, chapters CXIV (al-Nas), CXIII (al-Falaq), CXII (al-Ikhlas) and CIX (al-Kafirun); in the long cartouches, Persian couplets, one from a ghazal of Hafiz, and two from two different mathnavis of Shaykh Baha'i, in the small cartouche: faqiram 'I am needy'; in the band around the image of the man and child: 'Peace be upon Husayn and the son of Husayn and on the children of Husayn and on the companions of Husayn and on their souls that have taken up residence at Your [i.e. God's) threshold'. The image depicts the Imam Husayn and his son 'Ali Ashgar being taken to heaven by angels, after their deaths at the Battle of Karbala in 680.