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Pen Box with Armenian Priests and Europeans

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Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in horizontal format with a crowd dressed in European clothing paying homage to an Armenian priest with acolytes, a domed building with bell towers in the background, and Europeans riding on horseback and in carriages. The sides of the cover are painted with three-quarter length winged angels and additional figural scenes. The vignettes on the front and back reference the famous tarji`-band of Hatif of Isfahan, and cartouches carry minutely written inscriptions from that poem. The ends illustrate episodes from the story of Shaykh San`an and the Christian Maiden, from Farid al-Din `Attar’s Manṭiq al-ṭayr. The base features additional inscriptions and a gold arabesque painted on a black background. On the inside of the mouth of the cover can be seen the makers mark of Muhammad Javad (fl. 1857-after 1870). The sliding compartment is also decorated. Two recessed panels on the front and back of the compartment bear additional scenes of Shaykh San`an and the Christian Maiden.
Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art 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. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum Gift of A. Soudavar in memory of his mother Ezzat-Malek Soudavar
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Title: Pen Box with Armenian Priests and Europeans
Description:
Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends.
The top is decorated in horizontal format with a crowd dressed in European clothing paying homage to an Armenian priest with acolytes, a domed building with bell towers in the background, and Europeans riding on horseback and in carriages.
The sides of the cover are painted with three-quarter length winged angels and additional figural scenes.
The vignettes on the front and back reference the famous tarji`-band of Hatif of Isfahan, and cartouches carry minutely written inscriptions from that poem.
The ends illustrate episodes from the story of Shaykh San`an and the Christian Maiden, from Farid al-Din `Attar’s Manṭiq al-ṭayr.
The base features additional inscriptions and a gold arabesque painted on a black background.
On the inside of the mouth of the cover can be seen the makers mark of Muhammad Javad (fl.
1857-after 1870).
The sliding compartment is also decorated.
Two recessed panels on the front and back of the compartment bear additional scenes of Shaykh San`an and the Christian Maiden.

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