Pen Box with Elderly Saint and Riverine Landscapes
1852-1853
Artists
Description
Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends.The top is decorated in vertical format with three cartouches. In the center, an elderly figure, perhaps a saint, with his eyes closed, clasps his hands; in the background is a white church with two domes. In the lower cartouche, a donkey bearing packs passes between buildings in the middle ground, and a waterwheel holds the foreground. The upper cartouche features water fowl and a white building. The sides are similarly composed, with a vignette of dervishes or holy men in the center and rural scenes at the left and right. The base and sliding compartment are decorated with gold arabesque on a red background.
Dimensions
3.3 × 3.8 × 22.2 cm (1 5/16 × 1 1/2 × 8 3/4 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.
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