Pen Box with Meeting of Shams-i Tabrizi and Rumi, and Other Figural Scenes

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format. An oval medallion with a portrait bust of a young woman is flanked by four lobed cartouches with figural scenes. The inner cartouches contain groups of dervishes; the one on the left may be identified as the meeting between Shams-i Tabrizi and Rumi. The outer cartouches contain women in European dress with children and attendants. The sides are decorated with a series of landscapes with figures in European dress, separated by oval medallions with portrait busts of men and women in European dress. The base is decorated with a gold arabesque on a red background.

Dimensions

3.6 × 4.1 × 23.6 cm (1 7/16 × 1 5/8 × 9 5/16 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.