Pen Box with Birds, Butterflies, and Flowers

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with central cartouche with concentric gold frames containing a songbird. An inscription on the top names the Qajar ruler Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-96). The spaces to the left and right are richly decorated with birds, butterflies, and flowers. The sides are composed of cartouches filled with animal families, flowers, birds, and winged putti. On the base, a cartouche filled with rabbits is flanked by bouquets. The sliding compartment is decorated on the outer surfaces with lobed medallions cartouches containing pairs of birds and vignettes of men riding horses or camels.

Dimensions

3.8 × 3.8 × 23 cm (1 1/2 × 1 1/2 × 9 1/16 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.