Rudolf Ernst

Charles & Mary Shapiro, New York (purchased in circa 1934)
Anita Shapiro, Palm Beach, Florida (by 1977, by descent from the above); thence by descent
Private collection, New York

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd., 13 and 14 Mason's Yard, St James', London, SW1Y 6BU: UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The artist's panel has two vertical batons on the reverse and is structurally sound and secure with an even profile. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. The paint surface appears entirely stable. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows scattered retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) numerous, very small retouchings in the blues of the sky in the upper left of the composition, 2) lines strengthening the folds of the trousers of the man in the lower left of the composition and further small spots and lines of strengthening to the other figures and the donkey drinking, 3) very small spots and lines of retouching within the paving slabs in the lower part of the composition. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This painting reprises the composition of the larger version sold for a record price at Sotheby's New York in 2008 (fig. 1). Set just outside the gates of Constantinople's Topkapı Palace, the fountain of Ahmed III was built in 1728-9, during the Tulip Era (so-called because of the popularity of this flower and the flourishing of the arts in the Ottoman Empire between 1718 and 1730). There are water taps set into the shallow niches on each of the four sides, and at each corner is a sebil, or kiosk, where drinking water was dispensed in cups to passers-by. Each sebil has three tall windows which, as Ernst's painting attests, are covered with elaborate bronze lattices. Erected across the city as acts of charity by notable families, these monuments soon became the favourite gathering places of traders, travellers, and townspeople.

Ernst travelled to Constantinople in the 1870s and would have been familiar with this - even at that time - famous site. However, like other Orientalists, notably Jean-Léon Gérôme, he would have been reliant on photographs and prints to complete his paintings in his Paris studio. Among the best-known published images of the fountain are those by James Robertson (c. 1814-88), an engraver at the Ottoman mint from the 1840s, as well as a painter and a photographer. Many of his photographs were exhibited in London and Paris; a photograph of the fountain of Ahmed III was shown at the 1855 Exposition Universelle. Ernst's interest in photography (as a collector of photographs and an amateur photographer himself) may help to explain the 'snap-shot' cropping and arrangement of the present composition.