Harvard Art Museums > 2014.303: Pen Box with Portrait Medallions on Floral Ground 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 Portrait Medallions on Floral Ground (Haji Muhammad) , 2014.303,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 21, 2025, https://hvrd.art/o/351829. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2014.303 People Haji Muhammad Title Pen Box with Portrait Medallions on Floral Ground Classification Artists' Tools Work Type stencil Date 1690-1691 Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran Period Safavid period Culture Persian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/351829 Physical Descriptions Medium Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, copper alloy particles, and lacquer over silver layer on pasteboard Dimensions 3.7 × 4.2 × 23.9 cm (1 7/16 × 1 5/8 × 9 7/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: هو العلی الاعاي راقمه حاجی محمد في ۱۱۰۲ He! The most High. It was painted by Haji Muhammad in 1692-93. 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 2014.303 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 vertical format with three portrait medallions and two anchor pendants, surrounded by flowers painted on a red background. The inscription is written in the anchor pendants, and it reads, "He the Most High. It was painted by Haji Muhammad in 1102 H. (1690-1691)." The portraits are all of women, and the central figure wears a fanciful European gown. The sides are decorated with floral scrolls, which are continuous around the ends. The walls of the compartment bear gold landscape motifs on a red background. The base is plain red. 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. 29-31, fig. 4; p. 115, cat. 46 David Roxburgh and Mary McWilliams, ed., Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), pp. 35-36, fig. 18; pp. 148-149, cat. 50 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 was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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
