Harvard Art Museums > 2014.345: Pen Box with Birds, Butterflies, and Flowers 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, Butterflies, and Flowers (Fathallah Shirazi) , 2014.345,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 25, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/351831. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2014.345 People Fathallah Shirazi Title Pen Box with Birds, Butterflies, and Flowers Classification Artists' Tools Work Type pen box Date 1886-1887 Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Shiraz Period Qajar period Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/351831 Physical Descriptions Medium Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over metallic layer on pasteboard Dimensions 3.8 × 3.8 × 23 cm (1 1/2 × 1 1/2 × 9 1/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: السلطان ناصرالدین شاه خلد الله ملکه سلطانه رقم جان نثار فتح الله شیرازی ۱۳۰۴ Al-Sultan Nasir al-Din Shah, May God perpetuate his kingly realm. Work of the life-scattering, Fathallah Shirazi, 1886-87 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 2014.345 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 central cartouche with concentric gold frames containing a songbird. An inscription on the top names the Qajar ruler Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-96). The spaces to the left and right are richly decorated with birds, butterflies, and flowers. The sides are composed of cartouches filled with animal families, flowers, birds, and winged putti. On the base, a cartouche filled with rabbits is flanked by bouquets. The sliding compartment is decorated on the outer surfaces with lobed medallions cartouches containing pairs of birds and vignettes of men riding horses or camels. 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. 86-87, ill.; p. 148, cat. 148 Exhibition History 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/17/2017 - 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
