Pen Box with Woman Wearing Beaded Necklace, Attended by Elderly Man

Artists

Description

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with bouquets on either side of a central medallion. In the medallion a young woman with a flower in her hair lifts her beaded necklace with one hand. To the left is a white-bearded man. The sides bear landscapes with fanciful architecture and small figures. The base is decorated with a gold arabesque on a red background. The date (written on the top at the left) is problematic. It appears to read 1297, but the number nine is written backwards.

Dimensions

3.8 × 3.7 × 21.9 cm (1 1/2 × 1 7/16 × 8 5/8 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.