TWO TINTED PLATES DEPICTING COSTUMES OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Possibly France or Western Ottoman Provinces, late 19th century

Comprising two oval tinted drawings, opaque pigments, pencil and black ink on paper, portraying two members of the Ottoman society, to the right a standing gentleman wearing a long damascened blue velvet robe, yellow slippers, a striped burgundy sash around the waist and a tall green headdress, to the back an attributive cartouche from a printed source reading SIRR KIATIB (secretary to the Sultan); to the left a muezzin, caught in the action of calling for prayer, wearing a white robe decorated with blue and pink flowers, a yellow sash with floral clasp and an ornate headdress with horn-like sides, to the back an attributive cartouche from a printed source reading MOSAIP, each plate encased within a brass 'Cairo ware' frame in the shape of a mosque flanked by two minarets, densely engraved with vegetal sprays, knotwork bands, scrolling split palmettes and thuluth calligraphic inscriptions, each plate 17cm x 9.5cm, the frame 35cm x 30cm.