Inkwell (Hovhannes Shedigian)
Name/Title
Inkwell (Hovhannes Shedigian)Description
This inkwell, originally from Sağmıga (Boğazlı) in Kharpert, once belonged to Hovhannes Shedigian (31 December 1876 – 24 August 1954). He received it at the age of eight, likely as a gift from his parents to encourage his early love of writing. The family had a tradition of engraving their names on personal belongings—his paternal uncle Tateos writes in his memoirs that they owned a copper table inscribed with the names of the Shedigian family, including that of Hovhannes. Trained as a tailor in Aleppo, Hovhannes later returned to his village and married a woman named Mariam. It was decided that one family member would always remain in the village while another worked abroad. In 1893, Hovhannes moved to Constantinople, and his uncle Tateos returned to Sağmiga. However, about a year and a half later, Tateos also went to Constantinople. In 1895, during the great upheavals and massacres of Armenians in the city following the Ottoman Bank takeover, the two decided to flee. They first sought refuge at the British Embassy, from which they were placed on a Greek ship bound for Piraeus, then continued on to Marseille. After a brief stay in Paris, they traveled to Boulogne in northern France, where they boarded a Holland America Line vessel. On 19 October 1896, Hovhannes immigrated to Massachusetts. He immediately found work next to a tailor. He became a naturalized citizen in 13 May 1900. In 1900, Hovhannes and Tateos traveled to Egypt to reunite with the rest of the family, including Hovhannes’s father, Harutyun. While in Egypt, Harutyun recounted horrific stories about the massacres and even revealed the scars he bore. Despite his insistence on returning to their native village, the family eventually agreed, traveling back to Sağmıga via Iskenderun and Aleppo. After their return, Hovhannes went to Aleppo, where he opened a tailor shop. Although Hovhannes’s descendants in the United States can be traced through family records, they are not his direct blood relatives. One relative, Nadia, recalled that her mother’s sister Mariam was married to Hovhannes. Hovhannes’s father, Harutyun—a teacher—and his brother, Sarkis, were killed during the Armenian Genocide, with Sarkis dying in Aleppo. After the Armenian Genocide, in 1920, he decided to permanently move to the United States with his wife, Mariam, and Anahid — Nadia’s mother — who was either his daughter or Mariam’s sister. Mariam’s first husband, a priest, had also perished in the genocide? Nadia remembered Hovhannes as a strong-willed man, deeply devoted to the Armenian community. His uncle Tateos, who also survived the genocide, lived in Syria and later in Iran, where he became active in local Armenian circles and wrote memoirs of his experiences. Near the end of his life, Hovhannes visited Tateos in Iran; during a family picnic, he died suddenly and was laid to rest in the Doulab Armenian Cemetery in Tehran. The inkwell itself bears the mark ՅԱԿՈԲ (Hagop) and was likely made in Aintab by Hagop Boshgezenyan (Hakobjan Usta), who began his career around 1841–1842 and remained active for several decades thereafter. Boshgezenyan Hagop (1840–1872) was the craftsman who most advanced the art of metalwork in his region. Before 1840, he worked as an armorer and was also a master engraver on iron and steel, producing intricately decorated weapons and seals that continue to inspire admiration to this day. He is credited with introducing the inkwell design featuring an integrated pen holder, which he embellished with refined and tastefully executed engravings. Hagop Usta also pioneered the manual polishing technique using a pulley system, a method that became standard among contemporary artisans. A man of learning and cultivated taste, he possessed a notable personal library that included Chamichian’s History of Armenia and Mkhitarist maps printed in Venice, many of which were tragically lost during the events of 1915.Category
Inkwells
Ethnography
Cultural Region
* Untyped Cultural Region
Ottoman EmpireCulture/Tribe
Armenian