RUDOLF ERNST | THE NARGILAH SMOKER

Private collection, Europe

Sale: Sotheby's, London, 24 November 1982, lot 21

Mathaf Gallery, London (purchased at the above sale)

Purchased from the above

Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings, London, 1991, p. 88, cited, p. 100, catalogued & illustrated

Seated on a bench, a man in a mauve silk robe draws on what appears to be a gem-set and turquoise hookah pipe (probably from the Qajar period). Judging by the blue ceramic tiles around the window frame, the setting could be a North African interior. In contrast to most of Ernst's compositions, the figure here is seen close-up against the picture plane. As a result, the model occupies most of the painting.

Ernst's representational style allowed the artist to showcase his painterly talent at rendering expression, anatomy and detail, down to the worked silver of the hookah base and glossy silks. Ernst, having himself mastered making and firing glazed ceramics, magnifies the patterned tiles and demonstrates his deep understanding of their properties.