Harvard Art Museums > 2002.50.111: Pen Box with Birds, Flowers, and Butterflies Artists' Tools Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Pen Box with Birds, Flowers, and Butterflies , 2002.50.111,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 26, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/160304. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2002.50.111 Title Pen Box with Birds, Flowers, and Butterflies Classification Artists' Tools Work Type pen box Date 18th-19th century Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran Period Qajar period Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/160304 Physical Descriptions Medium Opaque and semi-opaque watercolor and shell-gold flakes on prepared pasteboard under shellac varnish Dimensions 4.4 x 24.2 x 3.7 cm (1 3/4 x 9 1/2 x 1 7/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Hadji Baba Rabbi House of Antiquities, Teheran, 1973], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (1973-2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art Accession Year 2002 Object Number 2002.50.111 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description The upper surface of this pen box (qalamdan) is divided into three lobed cartouches outlined in gold, their interstices filled with golden palmettes and flowers. A bird-and-flower composition uniting nightingale, rose, and blossoming branch dominates the center cartouche. The flanking compartments, one broadly mirroring the other save changes in palette, contain prunus blossoms, a tulip, and hovering butterflies that gather nectar from and pollinate the plants. The background of the pen box is a deep reddish brown flecked with particles of gold; it provides the ideal contrast for the bright colors used in the bird-and- flower designs. The coloristic effect of the palette—greens, white, blues, pinks, browns, and reds—has been unified by the layers of shellac varnish applied to the surface as a final stage. The sides of the pen box continue the subject matter of the upper face, similarly structured in three compositional groupings; the principal difference is that the birds directly confront the winged insects amid miniature floral thickets. Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 201355 Pen box with birds, flowers, and butterflies Iran, Qajar period, 18th–19th century Opaque and semi-opaque watercolor and shell-gold flakes on prepared pasteboard under shellac varnish 4.4 × 24.2 × 3.7 cm (1 3/4 × 9 1/2 × 1 7/16 in.) 2002.50.111 The upper surface of this pen box (qalamdān) is divided into three lobed cartouches outlined in gold, their interstices filled with golden palmettes and flowers. A bird-and-flower composition uniting nightingale, rose, and blossoming branch dominates the center cartouche. The flanking compartments, one broadly mirroring the other save for changes in palette, contain prunus blossoms, a tulip, and hovering butterflies that gather nectar from and pollinate the plants. The background of the pen box is a deep reddish brown flecked with particles of gold; it provides the ideal contrast for the bright colors used in the bird-and-flower designs. The coloristic effect of the palette—greens, white, blues, pinks, browns, and reds—has been unified by the layers of shellac varnish applied to the surface as a final stage. The sides of the pen box continue the subject matter of the upper face, similarly structured in three compositional groupings; the principal difference is that the birds directly confront the winged insects amid miniature floral thickets. David J. Roxburgh Publication History Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), pp. 67-69, ill.; p. 207, cat. 55, ill. Exhibition History In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2013 - 06/01/2013 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
