Femme Turque, filant au Tandour, plate 47 from "Recueil de cent estampes représentent differentes nations du Levant" 1714 - 1715

Editor: This is "Femme Turque, filant au Tandour," plate 47 from “Recueil de cent estampes repr\u00e9sentent differentes nations du Levant” by Jean Baptiste Vanmour, dating from around 1714-1715. It's an engraving and I'm struck by the textures he manages to create using only line work, particularly the draped fabric. How do you interpret this work, focusing on its materials and social context? Curator: Let's consider the context in which this print was made. Vanmour, though a Western artist, served as a court painter in the Ottoman Empire. What does it mean for an artist embedded in the system of power, reliant on patronage and access to specific workshops, to depict scenes of everyday life? The labor involved in creating this print, the paper, the ink, the press, each component reveals networks of trade, extraction, and economic exchange, all supporting the creation and consumption of such images. Editor: That's fascinating! I hadn't thought about the materials telling their own story of global exchange and the artist's position within that system. How does that relate to the depiction of the Turkish woman and her domestic activity? Curator: Think about the labor this woman represents. Is this scene a truthful representation of domestic work, or is it a staged scene crafted for Western consumption? Are we, as viewers, meant to be neutral observers, or are we implicated in the circulation of this image and the exoticized vision of the East it reinforces? Editor: So the image is not just a neutral record but part of a broader network of material exchange and the consumption of 'oriental' themes. Curator: Exactly. It’s a process involving material and societal power dynamics. It also changes our relationship to images from the past, thinking about where those materials originated. Editor: Thank you, this really opens my eyes to what I'm actually seeing and the stories it holds, beyond the obvious depiction.