Artists' Tools19th century

Pen Box with Bathing and Reclining European Women

1853-1854

Artists

Najaf `AliArtist

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.

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

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.

Related Artworks

Artists' Tools

Carving tools for woodblock printing

Unknown Artist, 19th–20th century

Metal carving tools, wood handles

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

Pen Box with European Women and Birds in a Landscape

Lutf `Ali Shirazi, 1856-1857

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

19th century

Artists' Tools

Foliate Water Dropper with Landscape Decor and with Characters around the Side Reading 'Ta Nam Cha Son Kui Pok' ([May you have] many sons and grandsons [who attain] wealth and good fortune)

Unknown Artist, 19th century

Blue-and-white ware: porcelain with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue

19th centuryKorean

Artists' Tools

Cylindrical Brushpot with Decoration of Figures on a Raft

Unknown Artist, 19th-early 20th century

Carved bamboo

19th-20th centuryChinese

Artists' Tools

Pen Box with Birds, Butterflies, and Flowers

Fathallah Shirazi, 1886-1887

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over metallic layer on pasteboard

19th century

Artists' Tools

Jade Terminal with Silk Tassel for Rock Crystal Roller (1942.185.192.D)

Unknown Artist, late 19th century

Greenish white nephrite with gold-colored silk tassel

19th centuryChinese

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil with Stylized Diagonal Bamboo 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 "tsukibori" (thrust-carving) techniques, with "ito-ire" (silk-web) reinforcement

19th-20th centuryJapanese

Artists' Tools

Rock Crystal Roller

Unknown Artist, late 19th century

Rock crystal, with red-and-white coral beads at either end, brass brace, and coral handle

19th centuryChinese

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil with Stylized Triangular Fern 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 "tsukibori" (thrust-carving) technique, with "ito-ire" (silk-web) reinforcement

19th-20th centuryJapanese

Artists' Tools

Pen Box with Persian Woman of Letters

Mubarak Mirza ibn Mahmud, c. 1850-1885

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

19th century

Artists' Tools

Katagami Textile Stencil with Carp and Net Design

Unknown Artist, Meiji-Taishō period, late 19th-early 20th century

Daihan (large-sized) minogami (mulberry bark paper) treated with persimmon juice and cut using the "tsukibori" (thrust-carving) technique

19th-20th centuryJapanese