Artists' Tools19th century

Pen Box with Flowers and Birds

c. 1850-1875

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format. The top and sides are decorated with a continuous frieze of flowering plants and hazelnuts with birds on a sparkling dark brown background. On the base, floral and foliate motifs are painted in gold on a black background.

Classification

Artists' Tools

Medium

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

Period

Qajar period

Century

19th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

3.8 × 3.6 × 21.5 cm (1 1/2 × 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.

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