Pen Box with Flowers, Birds, and Butterflies

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with birds and flowers on a black ground. On the sides, gold scrollwork frames panels with small-scale European figures on horseback and seated in carriages in riverine landscapes. These are flanked by medallions with three-quarter length portraits of European men and women.

Dimensions

3.8 × 3.8 × 21.7 cm (1 1/2 × 1 1/2 × 8 9/16 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.