Erotic scene, Ottoman Turkey, late 18th or early 19th centur - Lot 217

Erotic scene, Ottoman Turkey, late 18th or early 19th century, in the style of Abdullah Bukhari Gouache and gold on paper depicting a man and woman embracing under orange curtains with wavelet motifs, the woman leaning on a large cushion of the same hue. Mounted as an album page on cardboard paper painted with a gold border and a margin decorated with silver scrolls. Framed. Page size: 16.6 x 23.4 cm; painting size: 12.2 x 18.5 cm Wear, a few polychrome chips, minor overpainting, traces of binding around the margins. The subject of this painting evokes a series of Ottoman erotic scenes produced by the painter 'Abdullah Bukhari. Active between 1725 and 1750, 'Abdullah Bukhari was one of the greatest Turkish artists of the 18th century, along with his contemporary Levni. A specialist in album painting, he excelled at depicting women and flowers. He was in the habit of almost systematically signing and dating his works. Few copies of his erotic series have survived. Two signed paintings are preserved in Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, the first a famous nude woman bathing (YY 1043), the second an erotic scene (YY. 1086). A third, which belonged to the Jean Pozzi Collection and then to Edwin Binney, is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.85.237.49). Others have come up for sale in recent years (Christie's, London, Oct. 7, 2008, lot 351, Sotheby's, London, Feb. 16, 2017, lot 55). Bibliography: Artan, Tülay, Schick, İrvin Cemil, 'Ottomanizing pornotopia: changing visual codes in eighteenth-century Ottoman erotic miniatures', In: Leoni, Francesca and Natif, Mika, (eds.) Eros and Sexuality in Islamic Art. Routledge, Surrey: 2013, pp. 157-207.