top Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Unable to open [object Object]: HTTP 0 attempting to load TileSource: https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/422670197/info.json
top Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
This object does not yet have a description.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.356
Title
Pen Box with Riverscape, Female Portraits, and Lions in Medallions
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
c. 1880-1910
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351841

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
4.3 × 4.3 × 23.8 cm (1 11/16 × 1 11/16 × 9 3/8 in.)

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
2014.356
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 seven cartouches. The central cartouche contains a moon-lit landscape; this is flanked by four circular medallions with female portraits, and at the far left and right oblong cartouches with lions. The interstitial space is filled with a gold arabesque on a black background. The sides are similarly composed with an elongated cartouche in the center with a rustic genre scene. A continuous design of birds and flowers covers the ends. On the base, a gold arabesque is painted on a red background.

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. 154, cat. 168

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