There is a long tradition of ambassadors to the Ottoman court commissioning artists to record their missions. Jean-Baptiste Vanmour, a painter who was born in Valenciennes, met the Marquis de Ferriol in Paris and accompanied him to Istanbul, about 1699. Vanmour’s speciality was painting the splendid state occasions on which an ambassador first presented his credentials and gifts to the Sultan himself. A number of such oil paintings, starring various ambassadors, survive. Charles de Ferriol was fascinated by the Ottoman court, its officials, and the ordinary citizens as well. He commissioned drawings from Vanmour, showing many aspects of Ottoman life between 1699 and 1709. First published in book form in 1712, these hundred prints were reissued and copied in many versions subsequently. The French painter Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) used some of these images as a basis for his paintings and the prints were even used as models for the ceramic Turkish figures made at Meissen in the first part of the 18th century.

This image is mostly imaginary, as Vanmour could not have seen a Turkish woman relaxing at home, unless he became a Muslim himself and set up his own household (as some artists did.) However, as there was a demand for such images, he provided one anyway. It is not all inaccurate, as Ottoman houses of this date seem to have had little furniture, beyond a sofa and carpets to recline on. Everything else, bedding, little portable tables for dining, etc. was stored in cupboards until needed, so the rooms appeared uncluttered, light and airy. Women apparently frequently smoked tobacco, using the cooling properties of the nargile or water-pipe. They are alleged to have preferred the gently perfumed tobacco of Syria, which was quite different from the harshness of modern Virginia leaf.