Curator

  • Art Institute Chicago
  • Harvard art museum
  • My Exhibition
Pen Box with Portrait Medallions on Floral Ground

Pen Box with Portrait Medallions on Floral Ground

Muhammad Isma`il

Persian

Cover and sliding compartment with rounded ends. The top is decorated in vertical format with three portrait medallions and two anchor pendants, surrounded by blossoms. The inscription is written in the anchor pendants. The portraits are of two woman (top and bottom) and one man (center). The sides are decorated with clumps of flowers growing from a ground line. The red background of the top and sides has thin stripes of a shiny copper under lacquer.

Opaque watercolor, gold-colored pigments, copper ribbons, and lacquer over brass layer on pasteboard

Qajar period

Artists' Tools