Artists' Tools20th century

Pen Box with Hazelnuts, Birds, and Butterflies

1904

Artists

Muhammad HusaynArtist

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with birds, flying insects, flowers, and hazel nuts on a sparkling black-green background. The sides and base have no decoration other than the sparkling black-green.

Classification

Artists' Tools

Medium

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, platy hematite particles, and lacquer on pasteboard

Period

Qajar period

Century

20th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

3.5 × 3.6 × 21.4 cm (1 3/8 × 1 7/16 × 8 7/16 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.