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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.306
People
`Ali Ashraf
Title
Pen Box with Flowers, Birds, and Hazelnuts
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
mid-18th century
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Zand period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351835

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.9 × 4 × 22.8 cm (1 9/16 × 1 9/16 × 9 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    این تحفه قلمدان که دهد شوق و شعف

    بخشد بگلستانِ جنان زیب و شرف

    شد رشکِ نگارخانهٔ چین نقشش

    از دستِ غلامِ شاه علی اشرف




    This rare pen box that gives strong desire and happiness

    Would bestow the rose­ garden of paradise with beauty and honor.

    Its painting became the envy of the picture­ gallery of China

    From the hand of the shah’s servant `Ali Ashraf.

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
2014.306
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. The top and sides are decorated with flowers, birds, and hazel nuts outlined in gold against a tan background. The outer surfaces of the compartment are decorated with cartouches containing floral motifs and Persian poetry.

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. 117, cat. 52

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