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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.307
People
`Ali Ashraf
Title
Pen Box with Flowers and Birds
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1776-1777
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Zand period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351838

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, copper particles, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.6 × 4.2 × 24 cm (1 7/16 × 1 5/8 × 9 7/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    زبعد محمد علي اشرف است في سنه ۱۱۹۰

    After Muhammad, `Ali is the noblest, in the year 1776-77

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
2014.307
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 densely decorated with a continuous frieze of birds and flying insects in mixed plants that sprout from the ground line. Plants include roses, hazelnuts, iris, hyacinths, and primrose. The base is painted with a gold arabesque on a black ground.

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. 117, cat. 54

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