200 Years of Oriental Masterworks

200 Years of Oriental Masterworks

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  Anders Zorn, Women outside the Sidi Abderrahman Mosque, Algiers.
  Estimate £300,000-500,000.

  This rediscovered work , executed in March 1887, belongs to the small series of watercolours Zorn made in Algiers. The watercolour's first owner was the German-born, London-based banker and industrialist Ernest Cassel, one of Zorn's earliest and most important patrons during his London years.
  

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  Paul Joanowits, Bashi-bazouks before a Gateway.
  Estimate £100,000-150,000.

  Bashi-bazouks were irregulars in the Ottoman army and hailed from lands across the Ottoman empire, from Egypt to the Balkans. The two soldiers converse in an Egyptian setting, the gate topped by Mamluk carvings and flanked by East African 'Grandees' chairs', amalgams of Mamluk, Portuguese, and Indian influence.
  
  

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  Jean-Léon Gérôme, A Sultan at Prayer.
  Estimate £200,000-300,000.

  Gérôme's fascination with Muslim prayer began from the moment he set foot in Constantinople in 1852, and Egypt in 1856, and would become a central tenet in his oeuvre. Here , a single figure stands silhouetted against a darkened yet architecturally distinctive backdrop, his silken robes crafted from the most vibrant confectionary of colours and his fur gown rendered in photographic detail.
  
  

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  Edwin Lord Weeks, Rabat (The Red Gate).
  Estimate £200,000-300,000.

  This monumental view of the inner gate of the Kasbah of Oudaïas in Rabat was painted during Weeks' third trip to Morocco. The gate was a spectacular example of highly-ornamented Almohad architecture, characterised by a horse-shoe arch and intertwined arabesques which conveyed elegance and grandeur.
  
  

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  Charles Tschaggeny, An Arabian in the Desert.
  Estimate £60,000-80,000.

  With a distinctive head shape, high tail carriage, and quadratic profile (its height matching its length) the Arabian is one of the most recognizable horse breeds in the world, as well as one of the oldest, dating back to the third century B.C.E. Throughout history, Arabian horses have spread around the world through war and trade, used to improve other breeds by adding speed, refinement, endurance, and strong bone structure. Today, Arabian bloodlines are found in almost every modern breed of riding horse.
  
  

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  Charles Wilda, A Souk in Cairo.
  Estimate £120,000-180,000.

  Painted in 1887, this street view of Cairo is a striking example of the nineteenth-century Orientalist views which opened up a new world to European viewers. The hustle and bustle of women carrying water jugs and snake charmers, rendered with photographic realism, brilliantly evoked the souks and streets of a city beyond the reach of many. In the background, the striated red and white brick buildings so typical of the Egyptian capital inspired artists and architects alike.
  
  

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  Eugène Girardet. Evening Prayers.
  Estimate £150,000-200,000.

  Scenes of prayer occupy a central position in nineteenth-century Orientalist art. Evening Prayers is not only a splendid evocation of the North African desert, but affords a fascinating glimpse into the rituals of Muslim worship. In the cool shade cast by the building behind them, a group of men on a rooftop face Mecca in prayer. The initial invocation to God, or takhbir, performed standing, is over. Two of the men remain on their feet but are about to join the two figures nearest the viewer to sit upright in a brief moment of reflection before the sujud or prostration - already being performed by the two farthest figures - during which the forehead is reverently placed to the ground.
  

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  Theodoros Ralli, Stringing Pearls.
  Estimate £80,000-120,000.

  Stringing Pearls is a rediscovery in Ralli’s oeuvre, and perfectly captures his exceptional skill at depicting intimate scenes of daily life in Egypt. Seated on an ornamented wooden bench adorned with elegant silk cushions, a Nubian man dressed in yellow silk carefully strings white teardrop pearls into a necklace.
  
  Pearl cultivation and the pearl trade were integral to the Middle East region’s economy before the discovery of oil and gas, and the advent of industrially produced pearls. Fashioned into necklaces and bracelets, or to embellish jewellery, natural pearls supplied from the region were prized by jewellers all around Europe.
  

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• • 

    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    The Orientalist Sale

    24 April 2018 | 2:30 PM BST | London

    View Auction
  • 

    Type: slideshow

    Category: Islamic Art

    London's Orientalist & Middle Eastern Week Highlights in Dubai
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    Type: slideshow

    Category: African Modern & Contemporary Art

    Highlights From Modern & Contemporary African Art
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    Type: video

    Category: Orientalist Paintings

    Anatomy of an Artwork: Women Outside the Sidi Abderrahman Mosque by Anders Zorn
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    Type: story

    Category: Impressionist & Modern Art

    Painting the Ladies of the Cocktail Generation