Wafer Seal Case with Flowers and Birds
c. 1825-1875
Description
Flat rectangular body with sliding lid. The top is decorated in vertical format with three panels containing birds and flowers. On the base, floral and foliate motifs are painted in gold on a black background.
Dimensions
1.5 × 2.8 × 14 cm (9/16 × 1 1/8 × 5 1/2 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.
Related Artworks
View MorePale greenish white nephrite; the inscription picked out in gold
19th centuryChineseMaki-e designs in gold and silver on nashi-ji lacquer ground
19th centuryJapaneseApproximately 20 sheets of brass, steel, and nickel silver joined with gray lead-tin solder
19th-20th centuryPale greenish white nephrite with white inclusions
18th-19th centuryChineseSilver
19th centuryBritishMetal
18th-19th centuryRussianSilver
19th centuryBritishLacquer on wood with decoration in wakasa-nuri (layered lacquer and gold foil over a thick base-coat impressed with various shapes and sprinkled with raden [mother-of-pearl] flakes), gold, silver, and sabi urushi (thick lacquer paste) utilizing the hiramaki-e (low-relief sprinkled design), takamaki-e (high-relief sprinkled design), and togidashi maki-e (sprinkled design revealed by polishing) techniques, and with tsuishu (carved red lacquer), malachite, and carnelian inlays; stone and metal fittings
18th-19th centuryJapaneseWood
19th centuryAmericanSilver, gilt
19th centuryBritishBronze, with damascened overlays of cut sheet silver, the bronze with induced gunmetal gray surface color
19th-20th centuryKoreanLacquer
17th-19th centuryJapanese