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FRENCH SCHOOL, 18TH CENTURY Black lead, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with gold and white, black framing lines, mounted, glazed, framed 18? x 27? in. (47 x 69.9 cm.)
This scene of an Ottoman sultan and his entourage proceeding through a palace gate demonstrates the artist's knowledge of the Ottoman world. It is said to relate to a composition attributed to Jacopo Leonardis, which is described as being the ‘solemn procession of the Sultan and his court on the occasion of the Bairam’. The festival of Bairam, was described as follows by the American diplomat and writer, Bayard Taylor in his work, The Lands of the Saracen (1852) – “The festival is inaugurated by a solemn state ceremony, at the Seraglio and the mosque of Sultan Achmed, whither the Sultan goes in procession, accompanied by all the officers of the Government…it probably surpasses in brilliant effect any spectacle which any other European Court can present”.
This painting was formerly in the collection of Auguste Boppe (1862-1921). Boppe was a French diplomat and art-historian whose seminal publication Les peintres du Bosphore au dix-huitième siècle, first published in 1911, is still considered the definitive work on 18th century Orientalist art. In his role as a diplomat, Boppe was posted to Constantinople three times between 1890 and 1905. As an art-historian Boppe turned his attention almost exclusively to the Western European artists who worked in the Ottoman world depicting everyday life as well as court rituals and Europeans dressed in Turkish costume. Thanks to Boppe’s work, the art of 18th century artists such as Jean-Baptiste Vanmour and Jean-Baptiste Hilair were put in greater historical context. The fashion for turquerie which characterised the era of the Régence, was expanded upon by Boppe from a mere taste for the exotic to a greater understanding of the political importance that these images had. Perhaps thanks to his role as a diplomat, Boppe was able to understand the nuances and symbolism of these works – especially those which recorded the presentation of foreign ambassadors to the court of the Sultan, such as the painting offered here. Another pair of paintings from Boppe’s collection sold in these Rooms, 27 April 201.