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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.354
People
Mirza Mustafa Shirazi
Title
Pen Box with Riverscape, Female Portraits, and Turkeys in Medallions
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1890-1891
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Shiraz
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351814

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.7 × 3.7 × 22 cm (1 7/16 × 1 7/16 × 8 11/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    رقم کمترين مصطفی ۱۳۰۸

    Painted by the most humble Mustafa, 1890-91

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland (by 2014), by descent; to her son Abolala Soudavar, Houston, Texas (2014), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2014.

Note:
Ezzat-Malek Soudavar (1913-2014) formed this collection over a period of sixty years. She purchased the works of art on the international art market.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of A. Soudavar in memory of his mother Ezzat-Malek Soudavar
Accession Year
2014
Object Number
2014.354
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with five cartouches. In the center, a European cityscape rises on the bank of a river. This is flanked by circular cartouches containing portrait busts of women, which in turn are flanked by oblongs with turkeys. The sides are similarly decorated with circular and oblong cartouches containing female portrait busts, with ducks and chickens, and landscapes with small figures. On the base, rabbits flank an elongated cartouche with a river scene.

Publication History

  • Massumeh Farhad and Mary McWilliams, ed., A Collector’s Passion: Ezzat-Malek Soudavar and Persian Lacquer, Harvard Art Museums and Freer/Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution (Cambridge, MA/Washington, D.C., 2017), p. 154, cat. 167

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