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Long oval-shaped box with scenes of women and animals

This long, narrow box has rounded edges. On the top side of the box are three oval-shaped images, each surrounded by a gold painted “frame.” The large one in the center depicts a light-skinned woman in a pink dress gazing upward. The smaller images show brown eagles with hooked beaks. The sides of the box have similar decoration. Each has a small central medallion with a portrait of a light-skinned woman. Larger images on either side show deer walking and reclining. The entire box is glossy with a yellow tinge. One end of the box has a cutaway portion, creating a cap.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.355
People
`Abbas Shirazi
Title
Pen Box with European Woman and Eagles in Medallions
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1878-1879
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351856

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.9 × 3.9 × 23.6 cm (1 9/16 × 1 9/16 × 9 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: یا عباس ۱۲۹۵

    O Abbas! 1878-79

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
2014.355
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in vertical format with three oval medallions. In the center is a three quarter length portrait of a woman; the upper and lower medallions contain eagles. The sides each feature a circular medallion in the center with a bust length female portrait, flanked by oval medallions containing pairs of male and female ruminants. The base and compartment are painted with a gold arabesque on a black 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. 153, cat. 164
  • David Roxburgh and Mary McWilliams, ed., Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), p. 34, fig. 15; pp. 156-157, cat. 71

Exhibition History

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