Although this is the roughest of drawings, a composition sketch, or simply on the spot note-taking, it is important because it actually shows an Egyptian Magician, Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Maghrabi, in action, possibly in Lewis’s house. A séance was held there on the 8th December 1841, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson who was present. The Shayk is clearly visible in the centre, and the huddled form in front of him indicates the young lad kneeling and staring at the drop of ink in his palm, answering difficult questions put to him by the onlookers. Although they are in Eastern dress, they are identified on an old label as prominent members of the European community in Cairo, including Henry Abbott, Joseph Bonomi and Colonel Barnett, British Consul-General in Egypt. For more information on these séances, see the portrait of the Shayk by Geoffey Vigne, SD.1148.
Alas, if Lewis took his Magician picture idea to another stage, it has not yet been rediscovered. The drawing also demonstrates how Lewis often began his pictures with the roughest of ideas dashed down on the spot, and then slowly worked them up into the paintings of exquisite finish that made him famous. Although a number of these very rough sketches survive, the majority seem to have been lost or destroyed.