A Dervish with a Leopard-Skin, about 1843. Aloysius Rosarius Amadeus Raymondus Andreas, known as Amadeo, 5th Count Preziosi
- Object:
Watercolour
- Place of origin:
Istanbul, Turkey (Painted)
- Date:
about 1843 (Painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Preziosi, born 1816 - died 1882 (Painter)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pencil and watercolour touched with white
- Museum number:
D.26-1907
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case MB2A, shelf SH38, box GG9A
Itinerant dervishes were a common sight in Preziosi's Constantinople, many of them having made the long journey from Central Asia. They excited feelings of fascination and horror in European visitors because of their savage appearance, armed as they often were with axes and other weapons. Most were hostile to the Franks, regarding them as infidels who corrupted Muslims. This holy man has a leopard skin which he used as a `post', a kind of carpet on which he would sit to meditate or preside over religious ceremonies in his order of dervishes. [See also D.23-1900]. On a stick is his bowl for alms, made of a coconut shell.
