Artists' Tools19th century

Pen Box with Inscriptions, Portrait Medallions, Animal Combats, and Flowers; with Ink Holder

April 8, 1813

Artists

Muhammad ibn MahdiArtist

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with cartouches containing Arabic and Persian inscriptions and floral sprays, and medallions containing bust portraits of an Indian and a European youth. On the sides, the floral motifs alternate with cartouches with animals in combat. The outer sides of the sliding compartment also bear inscription cartouches. The multiple inscriptions, written in naskh and riqa’ scripts, praise the high quality of calligraphy on the pen box as well as the merits of calligraphy and calligraphers in general.

Classification

Artists' Tools

Medium

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard; with ink holder

Period

Qajar period

Century

19th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

5 × 5.4 × 26.7 cm (1 15/16 × 2 1/8 × 10 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.

Related Artworks

Artists' Tools

Pen Box with the Virgin and Child

Abu’l-Hasan al-Ghaffari Naqqash-Bashi, 1854-1855

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over brass and tin layers on pasteboard

19th centuryPersian

Artists' Tools

Pen Box with Muhammad Shah Qajar, Haji Mirza Aqasi, and Other Officials

Muhammad Isma`il, c. 1834-1848

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard

19th century

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil with Double Interlaced Circle Design

Unknown Artist, Late Edo-Meiji period, 19th-early 20th century

Chūban (medium-sized) minogami (mulberry bark paper) treated with persimmon juice and cut using the "kiribori" (drill-carving) and "tsukibori" (thrust-carving) techniques; with ink

19th-20th centuryJapanese

Artists' Tools

Double-sided wooden printing block: one side showing the background from an Omi hakkei series, the reverse showing a rain pattern

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重, 19th century

Carved wood

19th centuryJapanese

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil with Miniature Pattern (Komon) of Bottle Gourds

Unknown Artist, Late Edo-Meiji period, 19th-early 20th century

Chūban (medium-sized) minogami (mulberry bark paper) treated with persimmon juice and cut using the "kiribori" (drill-carving) and "dōgubori" (punch-carving) techniques

19th-20th centuryJapanese

Artists' Tools

Woodblock for replicating Painting Manual by Noted Shanghai Artists (Haishang mingren huagao)

Unknown Artist, c. 1885

Ink on carved wood

19th centuryChinese

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil (1 of 2) with Butterfly, Flower and Crescent Design

Unknown Artist, Late Edo-Meiji period, 19th-early 20th century

One of a pair of koban (small-sized) sheets of minogami (mulberry bark paper) treated with persimmon juice and cut using the "kiribori" (drill-carving) and "dōgubori" (punch-carving) techniques

19th-20th centuryJapanese

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil with Abstract Flower and Undulating Line Design

Unknown Artist, Late Edo-Meiji period, 19th-early 20th century

Chūban (medium-sized) minogami (mulberry bark paper) treated with persimmon juice and cut using the "kiribori" (drill-carving) and "dōgubori" (punch-carving) techniques

19th-20th centuryJapanese

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil with Hydrangea, Cherry Blossom, and Triangle Design

Unknown Artist, Late Edo-Meiji period, 19th-early 20th century

Chūban (medium-sized) minogami (mulberry bark paper) treated with persimmon juice and cut using the "dōgubori" (punch-carving), and "tsukibori" (thrust-carving) techniques

19th-20th centuryJapanese