Pen Box with Erotic Scenes in Medallions on Floral Ground

Artists

Description

Cover and lid with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format, with five small lobed medallions containing erotic imagery superimposed on floating blossoms, the whole set against a gold background. The sides are nearly identical, each bearing a symmetrical pattern of clumps of red and purple flowers springing from the ground line, against a light brown background. The inner lid, also in horizontal format, features a leafy plant, rooted at the center with branches extending to the ends of the lid. On the base, floral and foliate motifs are painted on a red background. The signature and date (painted on the inner lid), places the work in the mid-eighteenth century, but the figural imagery appears to be Qajar, to judge from the few elements of clothing.

Dimensions

5.1 × 5 × 28.3 cm (2 × 1 15/16 × 11 1/8 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.