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Hinged rectangular mirror case with paintings of birds and flowers

This rectangular case consists of a mirror surrounded by a frame with a botanical pattern. A lid sits within the frame. The lid is painted with a scene of a gray bird, butterflies, a cluster of hazelnuts, and a mix of red and pink flowers of various kinds and sizes. Green foliage surrounds the flowers. Metal hinges and a latch hold the lid closed. The back of the case is painted with a similar floral scene. The reverse of the lid is painted with a scene of four figures sitting by a river.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.385
People
Attributed to the Circle of Najaf `Ali
Title
Mirror Case with Flowers, Hazelnuts, Birds, and Butterflies
Classification
Mirrors
Work Type
mirror case
Date
c. 1800-1850
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351891

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard
Dimensions
frame: 24 × 15.6 × 1.6 cm (9 7/16 × 6 1/8 × 5/8 in.)
shutter: 21.6 × 13.2 × 0.5 cm (8 1/2 × 5 3/16 × 3/16 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
2014.385
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Rectangular mirror case with hinged lid. On its exterior surfaces, this mirror case bears decorative schemes of mixed flowers with birds and butterflies that were popular in lacquer wares during the 18th and 19th centuries. The compositions on the outer face of the lid and the case back are very similar, but not identical. The outer face of the lid is, however, virtually identical to the front and back of 2014.386. The inner face of the lid is decorated with a gathering of dervishes in a riverine landscape. A white-bearded man holding a staff kneels in the middle ground, flanked by two clean-shaven dervishes; a pipe-smoking bearded man is seated in the foreground.

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. 110, cat. 36
  • David Roxburgh, ed., An Album of Artists' Drawings from Qajar Iran, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), pp. 36-37, fig. 3
  • David Roxburgh and Mary McWilliams, ed., Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), pp. 32-33, fig. 12; pp. 152-153, cat. 58

Exhibition History

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