2014.353: Pen Box with Flowers and Birds in Medallions

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2014.353

People

Mustafa al-Husayni al-Imami

Title

Pen Box with Flowers and Birds in Medallions

Classification

Artists' Tools

Work Type

pen box

Date

c. 1872-1873

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan

Period

Qajar period

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/351850

Physical Descriptions

Medium

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

Dimensions

4.1 × 4.3 × 24.6 cm (1 5/8 × 1 11/16 × 9 11/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription:
  
  
  
  Top:
  
  
  
  مصظفی الحسيني الامامي سنه ۱۲۸۹
  
  
  
  Mustafa al-Husayni al-Imami, the year 1872-73
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Inside cover (maker’s seal):
  
  
  
  عبده الرجي محمد جواد [illegible date]
  
  
  
  His [God’s] hopeful servant Muhammad Javad
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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

2014.353

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 similarly composed with elaborate borders framing cartouches of various shapes and sizes that contain vignettes of birds and flowers. 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. 145, cat. 138

Exhibition History

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

Verification Level