Mirror Case with Flowers, Hazelnuts, Birds, and Butterflies

Artists

Description

Rectangular mirror case with hinged lid. On its exterior surfaces, this mirror case bears decorative schemes of mixed flowers with birds and butterflies that were popular in lacquer wares during the 18th and 19th centuries. The compositions on the outer face of the lid and the case back are very similar, but not identical. The outer face of the lid is, however, virtually identical to the front and back of 2014.386. The inner face of the lid is decorated with a gathering of dervishes in a riverine landscape. A white-bearded man holding a staff kneels in the middle ground, flanked by two clean-shaven dervishes; a pipe-smoking bearded man is seated in the foreground.

Dimensions

frame: 24 × 15.6 × 1.6 cm (9 7/16 × 6 1/8 × 5/8 in.) shutter: 21.6 × 13.2 × 0.5 cm (8 1/2 × 5 3/16 × 3/16 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.