Elliptical pen box with polychrome arabesques on an orange background.
top Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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top Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

This pen box is long and thin with rounded ends. Two braided gold bands border the entire object, and on the right side there is a horseshoe-shaped separation in the band where the lid slides out to grant access to the inside of the box. The background of the lid decoration is an orange field, and on top of it are weaving and intertwining vines and vegetal arabesques in gold with shading and accents in green and red. While these arabesques dominate most of the image area, the interstices house a field of five-and-six-petalled green flowers with black detailing.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.358
People
Razi Sani Humayun
Title
Pen Box with Intertwining Foliate and Floral Vines
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
c. 1880-1910
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351877

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold, and lacquer on pasteboard; punch work
Dimensions
3.5 × 3.4 × 21.9 cm (1 3/8 × 1 5/16 × 8 5/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    Inside cover (maker’s seal):

    العبد الراجي رفيع الحسيني

    The hopeful servant, Rafi al-Husayni

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
2014.358
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 and sides are covered in a polychrome floral arabesque painted on a tan background. On the base, a scrolling grapevine is painted in gold on a tan 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. 42, 44-45, fig. 12; p. 155, cat. 170
  • Katherine Eremin and Claire Grech, Materials and Techniques of Persian Laquerwork, 2017, Figure 12, Page 44-45

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