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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.312
People
Abu’l-Hasan Isfahani
Title
Pen Box with Muhammad Shah Qajar and Nur `Ali Shah
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1842-1843
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351848

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
5.2 × 6.3 × 27.7 cm (2 1/16 × 2 1/2 × 10 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    Lid (exterior)

    رقم کمترين ابو الـحسن ۱۲۵۸

    Painted by the lowliest Abu’l-Hasan, 1842-43



    Lid (interior)



    نور علي شاه

    Nur `Ali Shah

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
2014.312
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Rectangular box with lift-off lid secured by a chain. The exterior of the lid is decorated in vertical format with a portrait of Muhammad Shah Qajar (r. 1834 48) seated on a chair like throne. The inside of the lid bears an image of a young dervish standing in an interior, with a staff and flowers. An inscription identifies the figure as Nur `Ali Shah (d. 1797), leader of the Ni’mat’ullahi Sufi order. The outside of the box is decorated with hunting scenes. On the base, a gold arabesque is painted on a red background.

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. 64-65, ill.; p. 124, cat. 73

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