Moritz Oppenheim

Sale: Dorotheum, Vienna, 9 November 2020, lot 570

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Georg Heuberger and Anton Merk, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim: Die Entdeckung des jüdischen Selbstbewußtseins in der Kunst, catalogue raisonné, Frankfurt, 1999, no. 46 (as A Turkish Sign of Love)

On a roof terrace, which offers a view over an oriental city in the evening light, a man sits cross-legged. His clothes, the carpets and the brass-coloured water pipe evoke an atmosphere of subtle luxury.

On closer inspection, action unfolds, in the upper right-hand corner a delicate hand appears behind a curtain. It seems to have just dropped the rose that lies in the foreground. Following this ‘sign of love’, the protagonist turns upwards and makes eye contact. His classic profile, full beard and deep black eyelashes attract the viewer’s attention and form the centre of the composition. Carved into the stone lintel above the door is the Arabic word القرآن meaning The Qur'an.

We are grateful to Erik Riedel, Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main, for his scientific assistance with cataloguing the present lot.