Pen Box with Reclining European Women and Female Portraits

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with three vignettes featuring a semi nude woman draped in a red cloth. The background is a sparkling dark brown. In the different scenes, the companions include winged angels, a white bearded man, female attendants, and a brown bearded man who grasps a bottle. These scenes are separated by two oval medallions with female portrait busts. The sides are similarly composed and decorated, with male portrait medallions appearing on the back. The base is decorated with a gold arabesque on a black background.

Dimensions

3.7 × 3.7 × 23.3 cm (1 7/16 × 1 7/16 × 9 3/16 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.