Mohammed Racim (1896-1975), Algeria, Algiers, 20th century - Lot 214

Mohammed Racim (1896-1975), Algeria, Algiers, 20th century Gouache, gold and silver on paper mounted on an album page, depicting a fleet of ships on the waves, a fortified city on a hill and mountains in the background. At top left, a gold-illuminated cartouche captions the scene in Thuluth Arabic: "The fleet of Bâbâ 'Arrûj before Bejaia". The Ottoman privateer can be seen in the foreground on the aft deck of his ship, wearing an orange caftan and turban. Signed and localized in Algiers in Arabic in the lower left and signed in French in the same place. Surrounded by a braided geometric border and mounted on a sheet of blue paper painted with a frieze of vegetal scrolls combining florets and palmettes. Framed. Page size: 31.2 x 23.4 cm; painting size (excluding borders and margins): 19.8 x 12.7 cm Paint chipped in places, some freckling, paper slightly oiled. The "Bâbâ 'Arrûj" mentioned in the caption to this miniature is none other than Arrûj Bâbâ, elder brother of Khayr ad-Dîn Barbarossa (circa 1474-1518), a famous Ottoman privateer under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent who later assumed the title of Sultan of Algiers. The Barbarossa brothers seem to have fascinated Mohammed Racim, if a fine individual portrait of Khayr ad-Dîn and another depiction of his fleet in front of Algiers in the Musée Public National des Beaux Arts in Algiers are anything to go by. Bibliography : COLLECTIF, Mohammed Racim, miniaturiste algérien, Exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, IMA, Paris: 1992, pp. 12 and 21.