The inscription reads: makhsus-e hozur-e sati' al-nur janab-e atabak-e a'zam sadr-e a'zam amir-e kabir damat ayyam-e shokatihi surat-e etmam padhiroft fi 12[64]
'It was completed especially for the one who radiates light, His Excellency, the repository of grandeur, the most great Minister, the Prime Minister, the Great Amir - may the period of his splendour be ever-lasting - in 12[64] (AD 1848).'

The Prime Minister at the time was Mirza Taqi Khan, known as Amir Kabir, who received all the titles mentioned on this pen-case on 22 Dhu'l-Qa'da AH 1264⁄20 October 1848 AD on Nasir al-Din Shah's arrival to Tehran to ascend to the throne. He is the most respected politician in Iran, the founder of numerous institutions including the Dar al-Funun. Through political intrigues, he was dismissed in AH 1268/November 1851 AD, exiled to Kashan and murdered on 18 Rabi' I AH 1268⁄10 January 1852 AD. (M. Bamdad, Dictionary of National Biography of Iran, 1700-1960, Tehran, 1966, pp. 209-21).
Mahmud al-Sharif was from Qa'in and was a painter of portrait, flower and bird, and landscape. Apart from lacquer, he worked in watercolour and siyah qalam. His recorded lacquered work include three pen-cases dated between AH 1264-1275/1847-59 AD, one depicting Ihtisham al-Dawla the 17th son of 'Abbas Mirza Na'ib al-Sultana, (M.A. Karimzadeh-Tabrizi, The Lives and Art of Old Painters of Iran, vol. 3, London, 1991, pp. 1134-5).