2014.312: Pen Box with Muhammad Shah Qajar and Nur `Ali Shah

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2014.312

People

Abu’l-Hasan Isfahani

Title

Pen Box with Muhammad Shah Qajar and Nur `Ali Shah

Classification

Artists' Tools

Work Type

pen box

Date

1842-1843

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan

Period

Qajar period

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/351848

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard

Dimensions

5.2 × 6.3 × 27.7 cm (2 1/16 × 2 1/2 × 10 7/8 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription:
  Lid (exterior)
  
  رقم کمترين ابو الـحسن ۱۲۵۸
  
  Painted by the lowliest Abu’l-Hasan, 1842-43
  
  
  
  Lid (interior)
  
  
  
  نور علي شاه
  
  Nur `Ali Shah

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

2014.312

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

Rectangular box with lift-off lid secured by a chain. The exterior of the lid is decorated in vertical format with a portrait of Muhammad Shah Qajar (r. 1834 48) seated on a chair like throne. The inside of the lid bears an image of a young dervish standing in an interior, with a staff and flowers. An inscription identifies the figure as Nur `Ali Shah (d. 1797), leader of the Ni’mat’ullahi Sufi order. The outside of the box is decorated with hunting scenes. 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), pp. 64-65, ill.; p. 124, cat. 73

Exhibition History

• 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/17/2017 - 01/07/2018

Verification Level