2014.322: Pen Box with Meeting of Shams-i Tabrizi and Rumi, and Other Figural Scenes

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2014.322

People

Attributed to the Circle of Najaf `Ali

Title

Pen Box with Meeting of Shams-i Tabrizi and Rumi, and Other Figural Scenes

Classification

Artists' Tools

Work Type

pen box

Date

c. 1850-1875

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan

Period

Qajar period

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/351864

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard

Dimensions

3.6 × 4.1 × 23.6 cm (1 7/16 × 1 5/8 × 9 5/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription:
  يا شاه نجف۱۱۶۰ [spurious date]
  
  O Lord of Najaf! 1747-48 [spurious date]

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

2014.322

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. An oval medallion with a portrait bust of a young woman is flanked by four lobed cartouches with figural scenes. The inner cartouches contain groups of dervishes; the one on the left may be identified as the meeting between Shams-i Tabrizi and Rumi. The outer cartouches contain women in European dress with children and attendants. The sides are decorated with a series of landscapes with figures in European dress, separated by oval medallions with portrait busts of men and women in European dress. The base is 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), p. 137, cat. 114

Verification Level