Harvard Art Museums > 2014.326: Pen Box with Amorous Couples and Portrait Medallions Artists' Tools 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 Amorous Couples and Portrait Medallions (Ahmad ibn Najaf `Ali) , 2014.326,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 24, 2025, https://hvrd.art/o/351817. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2014.326 People Ahmad ibn Najaf `Ali Title Pen Box with Amorous Couples and Portrait Medallions Classification Artists' Tools Work Type pen box Date 1864-1865 Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan Period Qajar period Culture Persian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/351817 Physical Descriptions Medium Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard Dimensions 3.7 × 3.6 × 23.6 cm (1 7/16 × 1 7/16 × 9 5/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: احمد ابن نجفعلي۱۲۸۱ Ahmad ibn Najaf `Ali 1864-65 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 2014.326 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 Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with three cartouches framed by elaborate gold scrollwork, all set against a black background filled with floating blossoms. The central cartouche features a vignette of couples reclining against cushions in an interior setting; they drink wine and embrace. To the left and right are portrait busts of European women with flowers in their hair. The sides are composed and decorated in the same manner with couples engaged in amorous play and portrait busts of European women. The ends bear portrait busts of men. The base is painted with an arabesque on a gold background. 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. 134, cat. 106 David Roxburgh, ed., An Album of Artists' Drawings from Qajar Iran, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), p. 61, fig. 2, detail; p. 99 David Roxburgh and Mary McWilliams, ed., Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), pp. 45-47, fig. 38; pp. 154-155, cat. 68 Exhibition History Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/26/2017 - 01/07/2018 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
