2014.327: Pen Box with Nasir al-Din Shah and His Court; and Rulers from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2014.327

People

Muhammad Kazim ibn Najaf `Ali

Title

Pen Box with Nasir al-Din Shah and His Court; and Rulers from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi

Classification

Artists' Tools

Work Type

pen box

Date

1879-1880

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan

Period

Qajar period

Culture

Persian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/351819

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard

Dimensions

4.1 × 4 × 23.7 cm (1 5/8 × 1 9/16 × 9 5/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: The signature (base) reads: Raqm-i kamtarīn Muḥammad Kaẓim bi tarīkh-i sana 1296 (The work of the lowliest Muhammad Kazim in the year 1879-80). There are numerous additional inscriptions. Those that can be deciphered read as follow:
  
  EXTERIOR - TOP
  
  ناصر دین خسرو صاحبقران
  صدر نشین همه خسروان
  Nasir al-Din Shah (nāṣir-i dīn), the lord of the auspicious planetary conjunction,
  The ruler of all kings.
  
  Zill al-Sultan
  Na’ib al-Saltana
  Mirza ‘Aliquli
  ظل السلطان
  نایب السلطنه
  میرزا علیقلی
  
  Comptroller general
  Prime minister
  [?]
  مستوفی
  صدر
  (؟) حسنعلی
  
  Feast of Kaykavus and Kaykhusraw
  بزم کیکاوس و کیخسرو
  
  Sarv, Qarin, Giv, Gudarz
  Zal, Rustam, Harzad
  سرو، قارن، گیو، گودرز
  زال، رستم، هرزد
  
  Kavah
  کاوه
  
  The court of Faridun and Manuchihr beside him
  بارگاه فریدون و منوچهر نزد او
  
  Manuchihr, Faridun, Sarv, Qarin, Harzad
  Hushang, Giv, Gudarz
  منوچهر، فریدون، سرو، قارن، هرزد
  هوشنگ، گیو، گودرز
  
  Garsivaz, Afrasiyab, Gushtasb, Luhrasb
  گرسیوز، افراسیاب، گشتاسب، لهراسب
  
  EXTERIOR - SIDES
  Court of Jamshid and the ordering of the world
  بارگاه جمشید جم و انتظام عالم
  
  Court of Anushiravan the just and the chain of justice
  بارگاه انوشیروان عادل و زنجیر عدل
  
  Portraits of Darab and Iskandar with a poetic inscription
  
  Darab/Alexander
  داراب/اسکندر
  
  Because of speech they have a name
  The heart of speech is alive because of the pen
  If the pen had not moved
  There would have been no name of Faridun and Jamshid
  از سخنست آن همه را نام و هم
  زنده بود جان سخن از قلم
  جنبش اگر زانکه نکردی قلم
  نام نماندی ز فریدون و جم
  
  Court of Khusraw Parviz and conversation with Buzurgmihr
  بارگاه خسرو پرویز و گفتار با بزرگ امید
  
  The assembly of Gengiz Khan and advising his sons
  مجلس چنگیزخان و نصیحت پسران
  
  Court of Anushirvan and Buzurjmihr beside him
  بارگاه انوشیروان عادل و بوزرجمهر نزد او
  
  Isfandiyar/Bahman
  اسفندیار/ بهمن
  
  The names of the Kayani and Pishdadi kings
  From Jamshid and Kaykhusraw to Kayqubad
  They have remained in the world because of speech
  And speech became eternal because of the pen
  نام سلاطین کی و پیشداد
  از جم از کیخسرو [و] از کیقباد
  ماند بعالم ز سخن یادگار
  هم سخن آمد ز قلم پایدار
  
  Portrait of Afrasiyab and Turkish heros
  تصویر افراسیاب و پهلوانان ترک
  
  On the short side: a king riding on a horse, conversing with an old man (probably the Anushirvan and Buzurgmihr).
  
  EXTERIOR - BASE
  
  Court of Ardashir
  And portraits of brave heros
  بارگاه اردشیر
  و تصویر پهلوانان دلیر
  
  Assembly of Alexander
  And princes
  مجلس اسکندر
  وشاه زادگان
  
  Depiction of the court of Hurmuz
  And renowned heros
  تصویر بارگاه هرمز
  و پهلوانان نامدار
  
  SIGNATURE (BASE)
  
  Work of the humblest Muhammad Kazim
  In the year 1296
  رقم کمترین محمد کاظم
  بتاریخ سنه ۱۲۹۶
  
  SIDES OF SLIDING COMPARTMENT
  
  The outer faces of the drawer are decorated with scenes illustrating the miracles of famous mystics and dervishes throughout the ages. These alternate with smaller scenes depicting pairs of young and old dervishes or pondering dervishes. The inner side of the drawer is decorated with flowers and six portraits, but bears no inscription.
  
  Disciples of Bayazid stabbing
  And wounding themselves
  زخم زدن مریدان بایزید
  و مجروح کردن خود را
  
  Prayers of Bayazid
  With disciples on the banks of the Tigris River
  مناجات کردن بایزید
  با مریدان در کنار دجله
  
  Ibrahim Adham shaving his head
  and the arrival of his mother
  سرتراشیدن ابراهیم
  ادهم و آمدن مادرش
  
  Shams of Tabriz throws
  Rumi’s books in water
  افکندن شمس تبریزی
  کتابهای مولوی را در آب
  
  Depiction of Shaykh Baha’i and Mir [Findiriski]
  and the taming of the lion
  تصویر شیخ بهایی و میر
  و رام شدن شیر
  
  BASE OF SLIDING COMPARTMENT
  
  Depiction of Shaykh Abu’l-Hasan
  Kharaqani and riding a lion
  تصویر شیخ ابوالحسن
  خرقانی و سوار شدن شیر
  
  Depiction of Sultan Ibrahim [Adham]
  and meeting his mother
  تصویر سلطان ابراهیم
  و ملاقات مادر او
  
  Ibrahim Adham
  انداختن ابراهیم ادهم ...

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

2014.327

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. The pen box is covered inside and out with small scale figural scenes in panels, accompanied by Persian inscriptions in cartouches. On the exterior, elaborate gold scrolls separate images of temporal rulers. On the top in the central panel is Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-96) with his sons Mas`ud Mirza (Zill al-Sultan) and Kamran Mirza (Na’ib al-Saltana and the future Muzaffar al-Din Shah). Other courtiers are depicted to the right of the king, including the prime minister and the comptroller general. The exterior also depicts legendary and historical rulers and their courts, including Faridun, Manuchihr, Anushirvan, Iskandar, Ardashir, and Dara.
Painted on the interior (on the outer walls of the sliding compartment) in slightly recessed panels are scenes with leaders of the spiritual world. These scenes are drawn from Farid al-Din `Attar’s Tadkhkirat al-Awlia (Memoirs of the Saints) and Haji Bektas Veli's Maqalat (Conversations) and include: Mir Findiriski, Shaykh Baha’i, and the escaped lion; Shams Tabrizi casting Mawlana’s book into the water; Shaykh Bayazid Bistami praying by the Tigris; Shaykh Bayazid being struck by disciples; Shaykh Abu’l-Hasan Kharraqani riding a lion with snakes; Ibrahim ibn Adham returning to his mother’s embrace; and the fish returning his mother’s pins to Ibrahim ibn Adham. The inner walls of the sliding compartment area decorated with flowers and male portrait busts.

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), pp. 40-41, figs. 2-3; pp. 42, 44-45; fig. 11b; p. 138, cat. 118
• David Roxburgh, ed., An Album of Artists' Drawings from Qajar Iran, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), p. 64, fig. 9, 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), p. 27, fig. 2; pp. 66-67, fig. 11; pp. 156-157, cat. 72

Exhibition History

• 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2019 - 01/08/2020
• Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/26/2017 - 01/07/2018

Verification Level