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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.343
People
Fathallah Shirazi
Title
Pen Box with Flowers and Birds in Grisaille Technique
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1880-1881
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Shiraz
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351846

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.7 × 3.8 × 22.6 cm (1 7/16 × 1 1/2 × 8 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: بجهة تقدیم حضور جناب جلالت‌مآب مؤتمن‌السلطان عضد‌الدوله العلیه العالیه دام اقباله سمت ختم پذیرفت
    رسم کمترین بنده فتح الله شیرازی ۱۲۹۸
    Finished for the dedication to his Highness Mu’tamin al-Sultan `Azd al-Dawlah, may his fortune be perpetuated.
    Drawn by the most humble servant Fathallah Shirazi, 1873-74

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
2014.343
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. In black on an off-white ground, the top and sides are painted with birds and flying insects amid plants that sprout from a ground line. The plants include rose, prunus, and hyacinth.

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. 46-47, fig. 17; p. 149, cat. 150

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