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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.335
Title
Pen Box with Flowers and Birds
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
c. 1850-1875
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351866

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.7 × 3.9 × 24.7 cm (1 7/16 × 1 9/16 × 9 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    Top:

    یا صاحب الزمان سنه ۱۱۸۹

    O Lord of Time! The year 1775-76




    Inside cover (maker’s seal):

    عبده الرجي محمد جواد

    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
2014.335
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 horizontal format. The top and sides are similarly decorated with birds and flowers on black background. On the base a gold arabesque is painted on a red background. The inscription referencing the late 18th-century artist Aqa Muhammad Zaman provides a date earlier than the floruit for the maker of the pen box itself (third quarter 19th century), so should probably be understood as homage to the celebrated lacquer painter.

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. 30, 32, fig. 8; p. 142, cat. 130

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