Orientalism is the practice of depicting or imitating aspects of the East by those in the West. It manifests in art, architecture, and other parts of culture being interpreted through Western eyes. It’s been hotly debated whether this came from a fascination with the East by Westerners or if this was more a form of patronization that occurred during the period of European imperialism. Rarely does art from this era represent or come from those in the East, with the important exception of Osman Hamdi Bey.
Born in Constantinople as the son of a former Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Osman Hamdi Bey was a government administrator, intellectual, and pioneering painter whose work consistently sets records on the auction floor. While a painter during the period of high imperialism, his works never seemed to pander to the Western eye, instead portraying the realities and everyday experiences of those in the Middle East.
Sotheby’s London has offered his painting, Preparing coffee (1881), as the top lot in their Orientalist Art sale happening on 29 April. The painting is estimated at £1-1.5 million (around US$1.3-1.9 million). Bey currently holds the record for the most expensive painting from Turkey ever sold at auction, with Young Woman Reading (1880) selling for just under £6.7 million (around US$8.6 million) at Bonham’s London in 2019.
Lot 208 | Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) | Preparing coffee, Oil on canvas
Dated 1881
Unframed: 60.5 x 36 cm | Framed: 76.5 x 52 cm
Provenance:
- Prince Sadiq Yadigarov, Tiflis province, Georgia (by circa 1910; Muslim by faith, Yadigarov was a landowner in the Borchali district of Tiflis, head of the province’s cavalry division, and an avid art collector); thence by descent to his son, Archil
- Private collector, Vienna, by circa 1930 (acquired from the above to whom related through marriage); thence by descent until 2008
- Private collection, Austria (acquired from the above)
Estimate: £1,000,000-1,500,000 (around US$1.3-1.9 million)
Auction House: Sotheby's London
Sale: Orientalist Art
Date: 29 April 2025 (3:00 pm London Local Time)
Osman Hamdi was born in 1842 during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. His father was a Grand Vizier of the Ottomans, its prime minister under the Sultan, and their family was originally of Greek background before being captured and enslaved by the Turks, and then subsequently rising through the ranks within their government.
Such a background afforded Osman Hamdi a privileged upbringing studying the law in both the capital, Constantinople, and Paris. However, he was uninterested in the subject, and while in Paris, he sought to pursue the arts. His teachers were the famed French Orientalist, academic, and figurative painters Jean-Léon Gérôme and Gustave Boulanger, whom he studied under for nine years until the late 1860s. He also engaged in studying archaeology during this period, which would influence his future career.
While Osman Hamdi was studying the arts he simultaneously began an interest in politics alongside his artistic career. He met many reformers and officials of the Ottoman Empire in France, and when he returned, he worked as an administrator in Baghdad and continued to work in bureaucracy for some time.
It should be noted that while he pursued a fruitful career in the government, his love of the arts never waned, and he began getting more confident in his art during the latter part of his time in Paris. During the 1867 Exposition Universelle, he exhibited his work for the first time. The paintings Repose of the Gypsies, Black Sea Soldier Lying in Wait, and Death of the Soldier were displayed, but none seem to have survived.
A young Osman Hamdi in the 1860s, possibly in Paris
Eugène Ciceri and Philippe Benoist | Vue officielle a vol d'oiseau de l'exposition universelle de 1867 (Official bird's-eye view of Exposition Universelle of 1867) | Incidently the first time an Ottoman Sultan visited Western Europe
This painting captures the essence of the “East” with the technical mastery Osman Hamdi picked up in Paris. Osman Hamdi always sought to capture the everyday of those living in the region and dealt with themes of culture and folk customs. By doing this, he became one of the first Turkish artists to break with traditional pictorial art.
Osman captures, like a photo, the still of two young women washing their hands as they prepare to serve coffee within the walls of a great complex. Like in his other works, the subjects are portrayed with the utmost care, serenity, and detail. Their expressions and figures are portrayed with a keen understanding of human physiology, while their outfits are carefully drawn with special attention to the detailed patterns of the cloth and the rich colors that would’ve been common at the time.
The other details point to the subject matter of the work. The inscription at the top reads bismillah wa ma tawfi illa b'illah, part of the verse in the Quran suggesting this is a mosque. Not just that, but the mosque is depicted as being within the Topkapı Palace, which is now on the European side of Istanbul, home to the Sultan’s Imperial Harem.
Further pointing at the regal nature of the surroundings and the building, this painting depicts the decorations that lay around the scene. This falls in with Osman Hamdi’s style, as instead of depicting a place one-for-one, he ties these different, thematically connected elements to create this air of luxury and royalty through implication rather than imitation. Things such as the metal-threaded tablecloth and the Chinese jar and vase on the left side showcase this style through rare goods and expensive imports, only available to the wealthy.
There are also signifiers of Ottoman history and regional culture. The ostrich egg-shaped pendant could be an actual ostrich egg, as it was frequently hung in mosques and churches in the Mediterranean as a symbol of protecting one's soul and could be found as a decoration in the houses of the upper classes. Additionally, the Mamluk-style bowl and door showcase the Ottoman integration of the art and architecture of the Mamluk Sultanate that was conquered by the Ottomans in 1517.
The two women washing their hands. Note the detail in their dress and attention to how it drapes. Also, the Mamluk door and the light escaping the bottom
The Chinese jar and vase, the metal-threaded table cloth, and the Mamluk bowl
The inscription and signature at the top of the painting
Osman Hamdi studied with his Parisian teachers at a fairly opportune moment. Their being Orientalist painters at a time when the art form was a growing market meant that Osman Hamdi reaped the creative rewards of the style’s popularity, which would grow to a point that Orientalist art was its own branch within the style of academic art.
The Turkish historian and academic, Edhem Eldem, stated that unlike his Western contemporaries and colleagues in Orientalist art, Osman Hamdi didn’t have to feed to the public the illusion of understanding the East, as it was his reality and background that he was painting onto the canvas. This is contrasted to other major Orientalist artists who interpreted the East through their European and imperialist lenses.
Osman Hamdi would go on to have a fruitful artistic career, with this painting coming from a period of high activity for the artist, 1878-1881. Osman Hamdi was also interested in building up culture in the empire and worked as a museum director, archeologist, and founder and director of the Imperial College of Fine Arts, now the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, in Constantinople to train a new generation of artists.
Osam Hamdi Bey
Osman Hamdi Bey | The Tortoise Trainier (1906) | Sold for 5 million Turkish liras (around US$3.5 million) by Artam Antik A.Ç., 2004 | Currently owned by the Mera Museum, Istanbul | Held the auction record for most expensive Turkish painting from 2004-2019
Osman Hamdi Bey | Young Woman Reading or Girl Reciting Quran (1880) | Sold by Bonham's London for £6.7 million (around US$8.6 million), 2019 | The current auction record-holding painting from Turkey
As for his record at auction, Osman Hamdi first set the record for the most expensive Turkish painting back in 2004, when his 1906 painting The Tortoise Trainer was sold for around US$3.5 million in Istanbul and was acquired by the Pera Museum in the same city. His record was beaten by himself in 2019 when his painting Young Woman Reading (1880), also known as Girl Reciting Quran, was sold by Bonham’s London for under £6.7 million (around US$8.6 million).
As for this painting, it was thought lost, and the only record of it was a photo held by the Istanbul German Archaeological Institute. It had actually circulated within private ownership in Austria within a family that had acquired it in 1930 before it ended up in the hands of a different private collector in 2008. Its first recorded owner was, interestingly, a Prince Sadiq Yadigarov, who was a cavalry leader in then Russian-ruled Georgia, interesting as at the time Russians and the Ottomans were fierce rivals who would soon go to war against each other.