Pen Box with Woman Wearing Beaded Necklace, Attended by Elderly Man
1879-1880
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.
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