Nils Forsberg

Sale: Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen, 30 November 1994, lot 315
Sale: Christie's, London, 17 March 1995, lot 156

Almeh, from the Arabic ‘learned woman’, was the name of a class of female entertainers in Egypt. Trained in dancing, singing and poetry, almehs (Arabic plural awalim) were present at festivals and entertainments and hired as mourners at funerals. The Almeh in the present work wears a beautiful pink and gold embroidery silk skirt and diaphanous blouse. She is watched by a seated woman and child playing a drum and there is a discarded pipe and coffee cup to the left. Sunlight pours in from a high window, highlighting the lustre of her costume, jewellery and finger cymbals.