A moorish harem, signed j lavery, inscribed fez (morocco) and dated 1907 (lower right), oil on canvas. A moorish harem is evocative of lavery’s moroccan travels, whereby he undertook a journey from tangier to fez on horseback. This painting is considered to be a masterpiece of the painter who surprises with its anthropological realism, in fact, according to catalogue notes, though the artist would have seen numerous harem paintings in paris, they were “all lascivious fantasies with no documentary accuracy, as westerners were strictly forbidden from entering these restricted enclaves. This image is not a product of the artist’s imagination but what he observed, a search for visual truth”([2]). Unlike other orientalist artists who painted harem scenes, lavery is one of the rare ones to have painted what he observed and not what he imagined, providing valuable anthropological testimony on moroccan costume at the beginning of the 20th century, and in this whirlwind of sumptuousness, we can see sumptuous moroccan caftans, of all colors (pink, yellow, blue. . ), on which, a dfina, long transparent dress, often with sleeves flared is stored, this luxurious clothing is called "mansouria", invented in the 16th century, which was first a men's clothing and then became the clothing of moroccan women. The moroccan mint tea ritual in its authentic tradition is also illustrated. Date: Fez (Morocco), 1907.
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