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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.342
People
Mubarak Mirza ibn Mahmud
Title
Pen Box with Persian Woman of Letters
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
c. 1850-1885
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351860

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.4 × 3.7 × 21.7 cm (1 5/16 × 1 7/16 × 8 9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:


    Top:



    رقم مبرک ميرزا



    Painted by Mubarak Mirza







    Back:



    ای ایاز از عشق تو گشتم چو مو



    ماندم از قصه تو قصهٔ من بگو



    O Ayaz! I’ve become like a strand of hair from your love,



    I could not go along with your story, speak of my story.



    [Couplet from the fifth chapter of the Mathnavi by Jalal al- Din Rumi]







    Inside cover (maker’s seal):



    صح تراج



    The standard of Taraj

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
2014.342
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 vertical format with three cartouches containing images of an elegantly dressed Persian woman embracing her beloved (upper), writing a letter (central), and caressing a small child (lower). The front and back show the same woman reclining against cushions and reading a book. The base and compartment are decorated with a gold arabesque 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. 29-31, fig. 3; p. 151, cat. 157

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/17/2017 - 01/07/2018

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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