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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.344
People
Fathallah Shirazi
Title
Pen Box with Flowers and Birds in Grisaille Technique
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1882-1883
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Shiraz
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351874

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3 × 2.9 × 18.5 cm (1 3/16 × 1 1/8 × 7 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    بجهة تقدیم حضور نواب وآلا امیرزاده محمد ابراهیم میرزا سرتیپ دام اقباله العالی سمت اتمام پذیرفت رقم کمترین بنده فتح‌الله شیرازی

    Finished for dedication to his Highness Prince Muhammad Ibrahim Mirza, the General, may his high fortune be perpetuated. Work of the humblest servant Fathallah Shirazi.

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
2014.344
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 perching in flowering branches, painted in black on an off-white background. On the base a vine is painted in gold on an off-white 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), pp. 46-47, fig. 16; p. 149, cat. 151
  • Katherine Eremin and Claire Grech, Materials and Techniques of Persian Laquerwork, 2017, Figure 16, Page 46-47

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