Pen Box with Bathing and Reclining European Women

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with vignettes of semi-nude European women in landscape, interspersed with two circular medallions with portrait busts of European women. The sides are similarly composed with figural vignettes interspersed with oval medallions with portrait busts of young men and women. The base is painted with grape vines, birds, and animals in gold on a black background.

Dimensions

4 × 4.3 × 24.3 cm (1 9/16 × 1 11/16 × 9 9/16 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.