Pen Box with Flowers and Birds | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 2014.307
People: `Ali Ashraf
Title: Pen Box with Flowers and Birds
Classification: Artists' Tools
Work Type: pen box
Date: 1776-1777
Places: Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period: Zand period
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/351838

Physical Descriptions

Medium

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

Dimensions

3.6 × 4.2 × 24 cm (1 7/16 × 1 5/8 × 9 7/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

inscription:
زبعد محمد علي اشرف است في سنه ۱۱۹۰

After Muhammad, `Ali is the noblest, in the year 1776-77

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: 2014.307
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 top and sides are densely decorated with a continuous frieze of birds and flying insects in mixed plants that sprout from the ground line. Plants include roses, hazelnuts, iris, hyacinths, and primrose. The base is painted with a gold arabesque on a black ground.

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. 54

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

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2014.307: Pen Box with Flowers and Birds