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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.330
People
Attributed to the Circle of Najaf `Ali
Title
Pen Box with Woman Wearing Beaded Necklace
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
c. 1875-1900
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351873

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.1 × 3 × 18.5 cm (1 1/4 × 1 3/16 × 7 5/16 in.)

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
2014.330
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 with a female portrait in a circular medallion flanked by birds perching in hazelnut branches on a brown ground. The woman lifts her beaded necklace with one hand. The sides are similarly decorated with oval portrait medallions alternating with birds and hazelnuts. On the base a gold arabesque is painted 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. 147, cat. 144

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