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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.329
People
Haydar `Ali ibn Muhammad Isma`il
Title
Pen Box with Woman Wearing Beaded Necklace, Attended by Elderly Man
Classification
Artists' Tools
Work Type
pen box
Date
1879-1880
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351876

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard
Dimensions
3.8 × 3.7 × 21.9 cm (1 1/2 × 1 7/16 × 8 5/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription:
    حيدر علي سنه ۱۲۹۷ [ambiguous date]

    Haydar Ali, the year [probably] 1879-80

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
2014.329
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with bouquets on either side of a central medallion. In the medallion a young woman with a flower in her hair lifts her beaded necklace with one hand. To the left is a white-bearded man. The sides bear landscapes with fanciful architecture and small figures. The base is decorated with a gold arabesque on a red background. The date (written on the top at the left) is problematic. It appears to read 1297, but the number nine is written backwards.

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. 147, cat. 145

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