Fifteen studio portraits produced in early photography studios in Jerusalem. Most are cabinet card photographs. Late 19th – early 20th centuries.
Orientalist-style portraits, showing the sitters in Middle Eastern attire, adorned with jewelry and weaponry, and set against Near Eastern-themed backdrops.
Mounted on studio card mounts, printed with the photographers’ names and logos: Khalil Raad (9 photographs), Garabed Krikorian (3 photographs), Alexandre Gherardi, and two postcard-format photographs by Joseph (Johann) Tumayan, with his photographer’s stamp on verso. Several cards bear the German imperial emblem (likely marking the 1898 visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Holy Land).
Various sizes, approx. 6.5×9.5 to 10.5×14.5 cm. Overall good to good-fair condition. Stains, scratches, and minor defects to some photographs. One photograph with surface abrasion to center (not affecting sitter’s figure). Slightly oversized mounts, with wear and blemishes.
