Harvard Art Museums > 2014.317: Pen Box with Elderly Saints 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 Elderly Saints (Najaf `Ali) , 2014.317,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Nov 14, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/351843. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2014.317 People Najaf `Ali Title Pen Box with Elderly Saints Classification Artists' Tools Work Type pen box Date 1856-1857 Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan Period Qajar period Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/351843 Physical Descriptions Medium Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard Dimensions 3.9 × 4.2 × 23.6 cm (1 9/16 × 1 5/8 × 9 5/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: يا شاه نجف۱۲۷۳ O Lord of Najaf! 1856-57 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 2014.317 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 cartouches. In the center, an elderly man, perhaps a saint, clasps his hands, with a white church at his back. Above, a bearded figure raises his hand in supplication, with a domed church in the background. Below, a white-bearded man holds a book. The sides are similarly composed, with figural scenes divided into three sections. On the front side, the central section features a carriage scene; on the back side, the central section features a seascape with sailing ships. Rural and hunting scenes fill the left and right edges. The ends carry medallions with male and female portrait busts. 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. 129, cat. 91 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
