Les cariatides du Ramesseum 134 (1860–80s): Art, History and Details

Les cariatides du Ramesseum 134 (1860–80s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Abdullah Frères (Turkish, 1858–1899).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This photograph of the ruins of the memorial temple of Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Great was produced by Abdullah Frères, a studio run by three brothers. Based in Istanbul, it was the most celebrated photographic studio in the Ottoman Empire. This depiction of the sculptures of Osiris and the pharaoh echoes and complements views of these sculptures by British photographer Francis Frith (1992.236) and French photographers Henri Béchard (2006.118) and Adolphe Braun (1992.244).

Object facts

• Title: Les cariatides du Ramesseum 134
• Date: 1860–80s
• Creator attribution: Abdullah Frères (Turkish, 1858–1899)
• Culture: Turkey
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print
• Collection: PH - Misc. 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2023.131

A detail from the museum

While Britain maintained a significant military and commercial presence in Egypt in the nineteenth century, the country was ruled by the Ottoman Empire.

Collection credit

Gift of Leslie and Donald O’Bell

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.