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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.319
People
Najaf `Ali
Title
Pen Box with Holy Family and Female Portrait Medallions
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1848-1849
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351815

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.9 × 3.9 × 22.1 cm (1 9/16 × 1 9/16 × 8 11/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    يا شاه نجف۱۲۶۵

    O Lord of Najaf! 1848-49

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
2014.319
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 three cartouches framed in gold scrollwork all set against a black background filled with floating bouquets of flowers. In the center, the Holy Family is depicted with female attendants and an angel. On the left and right are portrait busts of European women with candlestick curls and flowers in their hair. The sides are composed in the same manner, but the central cartouches contain scenes of fortified towns by a shore. The base of the cover and sides of the sliding compartment bear gold arabesques 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. 127, cat. 85

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