Vittorio Amadeo, 5th Count Preziosi(Maltese, 1816-1882)Ladies in a harem 35.5 x 47 cm. (14 x 18 1/2 in.)
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Find your local specialistVittorio Amadeo, 5th Count Preziosi (Maltese, 1816-1882)
signed, inscribed and dated 'Preziosi a Constantinople 1850' l.r.
watercolour
35.5 x 47 cm. (14 x 18 1/2 in.)
Footnotes
PROVENANCE:
With Davey & Sons, Hanover Street.
Preziosi probably used models to recreate the harem scene observed in the present work. As an infidel Frank, he would not normally be allowed to witness such scenes. However, he had many Turkish friends and it is probable that he may have based the interior of the house on one of their homes. The design of the room shows the combination of influences typical of Constantinople; the table is Islamic while the fringed sofa shows the influence of Western Europe.
A woman reclines on the sofa smoking the çubuk or pipe, probably filled with a mild and aromatic tabacco mixture favoured by harem inhabitants. Next to her another woman plays the baglama saz, the most popular instrument in Turkey for playing folk music. At their feet sits a richly clad young girl, probably the daughter of the woman smoking the pipe.
There are a few known versions of this work. One dated 1851, is illustrated in Briony Llewellyn and Charles Newton, The People and Places of Constantinople, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985, plate 43. Another version, dated 1852, was allegedly painted for the Empress Eugènie; Briony Llewellyn observes that the latter version is much less restrained than the others, pandering to the popular western idea of a harem, as seen in the Arabian Nights imagery prevalent at the time.