A work made of painted and lacquered papier-mâché.

Pen Box (Qalamdan)

Museum collection

Museum work by Islamic

Art Institute of Chicago

Thread 47778

Wealth & AbundanceCurator’s pickReserved

Where the original lives

Art Institute of Chicago

The original is held by the Art Institute of Chicago and is not for sale. This piece is shown for reference — no edition of it is offered.

See the work in the Art Institute of Chicago collection

Curator’s note

Islamic (Qajar dynasty (1796–1925), 19th century) from Iran. Held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and released into the public domain, offered here as a museum-quality edition within the wealth thread.

Details

Artist: Iran
Date: Qajar dynasty (1796–1925), 19th century
Medium: Painted and lacquered papier-mâché
Dimensions: 3 × 20 × 3 cm · 1.2 × 7.9 in
Origin: Iran
Collection: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. Mookree

Placing a wealth & abundance work

Abundance in art is rarely literal. It reads as fullness — a bowl that overflows, a field at harvest, gold leaf catching a low sun, water moving rather than still. These are works chosen for rooms where you want the eye to rest on generosity: a dining table, an entrance, the wall behind a desk where decisions about growth get made.

Direction: North — the quarter associated with flow and increase
Rooms: Entrance halls · Dining rooms · Home offices · Reception areas

See the whole thread

Provenance & rights

Source collection: Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. Mookree. Public domain (CC0). Shown here for reference, with full attribution to the artist and holding institution. No edition of this work is offered.