Harvard Art Museums > 2014.325: Pen Box with Armenian Priests and Europeans Artists' Tools Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Pen Box with Armenian Priests and Europeans (Muhammad Isma`il) , 2014.325,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 20, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/351840. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2014.325 People Muhammad Isma`il Title Pen Box with Armenian Priests and Europeans Classification Artists' Tools Work Type pen box Date 1857-1858 Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan Period Qajar period Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/351840 Physical Descriptions Medium Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, brass particles, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard Dimensions 3.7 × 4.1 × 24.7 cm (1 7/16 × 1 5/8 × 9 3/4 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: Top: عمل اسمعيل۱۲۷۴ The work of Isma`il, 1857-58 [Inscribed on the sides and base are verses from the tarji` band by Hatif Isfahani.] Inside cover (maker’s seal): عبده الرجي محمد جواد۱۲۷۱ His [God’s] hopeful servant Muhammad Javad, 1854-55 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 2014.325 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with a crowd dressed in European clothing paying homage to an Armenian priest with acolytes, a domed building with bell towers in the background, and Europeans riding on horseback and in carriages. The sides of the cover are painted with three-quarter length winged angels and additional figural scenes. The vignettes on the front and back reference the famous tarji`-band of Hatif of Isfahan, and cartouches carry minutely written inscriptions from that poem. The ends illustrate episodes from the story of Shaykh San`an and the Christian Maiden, from Farid al-Din `Attar’s Manṭiq al-ṭayr. The base features additional inscriptions and a gold arabesque painted on a black background. On the inside of the mouth of the cover can be seen the makers mark of Muhammad Javad (fl. 1857-after 1870). The sliding compartment is also decorated. Two recessed panels on the front and back of the compartment bear additional scenes of Shaykh San`an and the Christian Maiden. 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. 40-41, fig. 5; pp. 74-75, ill.; p. 133, cat. 103 Exhibition History 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/17/2017 - 01/07/2018 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
