Interactive Gigazoom • Scroll or Double-Click
100%
Description
This painting, inspired by Charles Montesquieu's Persian Letters (published in 1721), depicts a eunuch who wanted to marry a harem slave. He experienced a vision of her while smoking his opium pipe, but her little companion holding a knife dripping with blood reminds us that the eunuch's anatomy precludes the fulfillment of his dream. The outline of a hand next to the signature is a khamsa, a symbol used to ward off evil.
Provenance
(Sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, April 28, 1977, lot 209, possibly sold to Noah L. and Muriel Butkin); (Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin, Cleveland, Ohio, given by Muriel S. Butkin to the Cleveland Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Dimensions
39.3 × 65.4 cm
Movement / Period
Accession No
1991.173
Official Citations
Curatorial Affinity Stream
Continuing the Universe of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ (French, 1842–1923)
Modern European Painting and Sculpture • France, 19th century • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries
Continuous Discovery