Pen case with gold sprays of flowers on a black ground

Object Details

• Provenance

  From ca. 1960 to 2011

  Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Tehran, Iran and Geneva, Switzerland. [1]

  From 2011 to 2014

  Abolala Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland, gift of his mother, Ezzat-Malek Soudavar. [2]

  From 2014

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Abolala Soudavar in 2014. [3]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Abolala Soudavar, his mother amassed most of her collection during the 1960s and 1970s. Around 1980, Ezzat-Malek Soudavar moved her collection for safekeeping to Geneva, Switzerland, in a bank safe deposit that she had. On March 24, 2011, Ezzat-Malek Soudavar formally gave the collection to her son, Abolala Soudavar. This information was provided by Abolala Soudavar in 2013. See letter from Abolala Soudavar dated Nov. 30, 2013, copy in object file, Collections Management Office. The collection remained in Geneva until its arrival at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See Deed of Gift, original in object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (October 22, 2016 to February 20, 2017)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Ezzat-Malek Soudavar (Iranian, 1913-2014)

  Abolala Soudavar

• Origin

  Iran

• Credit Line

  Gift of A. Soudavar in memory of his mother Ezzat-Malek Soudavar

• Type

  Container

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1900s, 1870s

• Name

  Soudavar, Abolala, Soudavar, Ezzat Malek

• Topic

  Art, Calligraphy, Lacquer, Qajar period (1779 - 1925), Arts of the Islamic World, Ezzat-Malek Soudavar collection

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Containers