Sotheby's
Sale: L07222 | Location: London
Auction Dates: Session 1: Wed, 24 Oct 07 10:00 AM
LOT 291
A FINE AND RARE MINIATURE PRESENTATION PORTRAIT
OF SULTAN MURAD V IBN ABDULMECID (REIGNED 1876),
SIGNED ON THE RIGHT EDGE BY THE ARMENIAN ARTIST
J. MANASS, TURKEY, DATED ON THE REVERSE
A.H.1311/A.D.1893
10,000—15,000 GBP
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium:
30,500 GBP
MEASUREMENTS
measurements note
miniature 15.5 by 10.2cm. frame 26.6 by 19.9cm.
DESCRIPTION
mixed media on card or ivory, the sitter shown
bust-length looking to one side wearing a dark
jacket with high collar and a fez, in an oval
composition, superb gilt-bronze frame with
elaborate floral and foliate swags in the
spandrels and around the top and sides with a
cartouche at the apex engraved with monogram M.P.
surmounted by the khedival crown of Egypt
CATALOGUE NOTE
This refined and sensitive portrait is a
posthumous study, most probably done after a
photograph, by the Armenian artist Joseph
Mana[s]s (1835-1916) who together with his
brother Sebuh Manas (1816-89) served as court
painter to the Ottoman Sultans Abdulaziz
(1861-76), Murad V (1876) and Abdulhamid II
(1876-1909). Further imperial Ottoman portraits
by Josef Manas are in the Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi,
including similar oval portraits of Sultan
Abdulmecid, dated 1888 (inv. no. 17/223) and
Sultan Abdulaziz, c.1892 (inv. no.17/133 and
17/236) (The Sultan's Portrait: Picturing the
House of Osman, Istanbul 2000, no.157, p.511; and
nos. 168, p.524).
The use of the khedival crown of Egypt on the
elaborate gilt-bronze frame strongly suggests
that this was at one time in the palace
collections in Cairo and may have been
commissioned as a gift.
