Artists' Tools19th century

Pen Box with Flowers and Birds in Grisaille Technique

1880-1881

Artists

Fathallah ShiraziArtist

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format. In black on an off-white ground, the top and sides are painted with birds and flying insects amid plants that sprout from a ground line. The plants include rose, prunus, and hyacinth.

Classification

Artists' Tools

Medium

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

Period

Qajar period

Century

19th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

3.7 × 3.8 × 22.6 cm (1 7/16 × 1 1/2 × 8 7/8 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.

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