gouache on an oval ivory disk, depicted wearing embroidered robes and a red tarboosh with plume, in an ornate silver frame
105 mm. high; frame (inc. suspension loop) 160 mm. high

Footnotes

A number of small portraits on ivory of Sultan 'Abdulmecid exist. The Armenian Manas brothers Sebuh and Josef, sent by Mahmud II to Paris for training, both worked for the palace during the reign of Abdulmecid. Numerous portraits both signed and unsigned by Sebuh (1816-89) are in the Topkapi Sarayi and archive records tell us that he was decorated with the Order of the Mecidiye for his work. Jean Portet (d.1862) was a well-known French miniaturist working in Istanbul who also painted miniature portraits of Abdulmecid as well as engravings. Both artists produced paintings which bear similarities to ours, although the sparse facial hair indicates a date earlier rather than later in his reign (see The Sultans Portraits: Picturing the House of Osman, Turkiye Is Bankasi, Istanbul, 2000, nos. 155-159; J.M. Rogers Empire of the Sultans. Ottoman Art from the Collection of Nasser D. Khalili, London, 1995, no. 171; and for works sold at auction, Christie's Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 4th October 2012, Lot 264; Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 24th October 2007, Lot 291).

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- Islamic and Indian Art

Ф	Item contains or is made of ivory
	This lot contains or is made of ivory and cannot be imported into the USA or any country within the EU.
Y	CITES
	Subject to CITES regulations when exporting items outside of the UK, see clause 13.

A portrait of Sultan 'Abdulmecid I (reg. 1839-61) Turkey, or France, 1840-50

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Matthew Thomas