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Gold and black lacquer pen box.

This pen box is long with rounded ends. Its decorative program involves golden floral and vegetal arabesques on a black background. On the right end is a golden, horseshoe-shaped border detail that reveals that the top portion of this box slides out to access the inside. In this horseshoe border are seven-and-eight-petalled rosettes connected by twining stems and leaves. The main body of the pen lid is also outlined in a thick gold outline. Included in the vegetal and floral arabesque field are four-to-eight-petalled rosettes on a single stalk, grain stalks, and larger flowers with feathered petals.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.357
People
Sayyid Baqir Muzahhib
Title
Pen Box with Foliate and Floral Scrolls in Gold
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1886-1887
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351857

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.6 × 3.8 × 22.3 cm (1 7/16 × 1 1/2 × 8 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    رقم سید باقر مذهب ۱۳۰۴
    Painted by Sayyid Baqir the illuminator, 1886-87

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
2014.357
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top and sides are covered in a gold arabesque painted on a black background. On the base, gold flowers are 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. 157, cat. 175

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