Pen Box with Riverscape, Female Portraits, and Turkeys in Medallions

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with five cartouches. In the center, a European cityscape rises on the bank of a river. This is flanked by circular cartouches containing portrait busts of women, which in turn are flanked by oblongs with turkeys. The sides are similarly decorated with circular and oblong cartouches containing female portrait busts, with ducks and chickens, and landscapes with small figures. On the base, rabbits flank an elongated cartouche with a river scene.

Dimensions

3.7 × 3.7 × 22 cm (1 7/16 × 1 7/16 × 8 11/16 in.)

Provenance

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.