Pen Box with European Women and Birds in a Landscape

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in vertical format with a young girl in European dress and an apron full of flowers. A smaller female with an apron full of flowers arranges flowers in her hair at the bottom. A spotted dog sits at her feet. The figures are surrounded by flowers and bird-filled trees against a light brown ground. The sides are virtually identical, with an architectural vignette enclosed by trees and flowers in the center; on either side of the vignette, a floral spray extends to the ends. The base and sliding compartment are decorated with trees, shrubs, and buildings painted in gold on a red background.

Dimensions

3 × 3.3 × 21.6 cm (1 3/16 × 1 5/16 × 8 1/2 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.