Anatomy of an Artwork: The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis

Anatomy of an Artwork: The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis

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  Georg Emanuel Opiz, The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis en Route To Mecca.
  Estimate £800,000—1,200,000.

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  Georg Emanuel Opiz, The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis en Route To Mecca.
  Estimate £800,000—1,200,000.

  Mounted on his Arab stallion appears to be an emissary of the Sultan or a governor of the province. Behind and beside him are janissaries and soldiers of the Ottoman Court who hold aloft Ottoman flags decorated with the zulfiqar, the sword originally used by the son-in-law of Mohammed. To either side of the flags are the distinctive horsetail plumes of the Ottoman tughs.
  
  

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  Georg Emanuel Opiz, The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis en Route To Mecca.
  Estimate £800,000—1,200,000.

  Paying homage to the Ottoman party is a senior religious leader, dressed in traditional green robes in the style of the grand mufti, his green garb signifying that he has made the pilgrimage before. Behind him is the court imam.
  
  

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  Georg Emanuel Opiz, The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis en Route To Mecca.
  Estimate £800,000—1,200,000.

  In the centre of the composition, mounted on the highly decorated camel is the mahmal, the elaborate coffer that accompanies the pilgrims to Mecca.
  
  

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  Georg Emanuel Opiz, The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis en Route To Mecca.
  Estimate £800,000—1,200,000.

  Elsewhere in the composition Opiz features everyday life in the caravan. On top of the tower on the left of the composition a muezzin calls the faithful to prayer; below him pilgrims perform ritual ablutions, taking water from the sadirvan. In the middle ground on the left men eat, smoke and relax; on the right ladies of the court wearing yasmaks dismount from camels.
  
  

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  Georg Emanuel Opiz, The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis en Route To Mecca.
  Estimate £800,000—1,200,000.

   Still further to the right shepherds tend the sheep that are to be ritually sacrificed at Mecca. And in the background a steady stream of pilgrims, punctuated by camel heads, zig-zags down from the hills.
  
  

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