25th Oct, 2023 12:00
Modern & Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art
23
⊕ † SEIF WANLY (EGYPTIAN 1906-1979)
PORTRAIT OF SOAD WAHBY
signed in Arabic upper left
gouache on paper
33 x 23.5cm; 13 x 9 1/4in
55.5 x 48cm; 22 x 19in (framed)
Provenance
Collection of Dr Mohammed Said Farsi
Thence by descent
LiteratureDr Sobhy Al Sharouny, A Museum in a Book, Cairo, 1998, pp. 155 and 163, illustrated
Naguib Mahfouz, Mirrors (translated by Roger Allen), Cairo, First Edition,1999, illustrated on the cover
The subject was a character from Naguib Mahfouz's celebrated novel El Maraya, first published as illustrations in the magazine Al Izaa 1970, illustrated
El Maraya includes 55 characters, whom the reader is led to believe are all fictional; however, a closer reading reveals them to be all real characters stripped of their names and appearances. Most of these characters were contemporaries of Mahfouz.
Sold for £9,500
PORTRAIT OF SOAD WAHBY
signed in Arabic upper left
gouache on paper
33 x 23.5cm; 13 x 9 1/4in
55.5 x 48cm; 22 x 19in (framed)
Provenance
Collection of Dr Mohammed Said Farsi
Thence by descent
LiteratureDr Sobhy Al Sharouny, A Museum in a Book, Cairo, 1998, pp. 155 and 163, illustrated
Naguib Mahfouz, Mirrors (translated by Roger Allen), Cairo, First Edition,1999, illustrated on the cover
The subject was a character from Naguib Mahfouz's celebrated novel El Maraya, first published as illustrations in the magazine Al Izaa 1970, illustrated
El Maraya includes 55 characters, whom the reader is led to believe are all fictional; however, a closer reading reveals them to be all real characters stripped of their names and appearances. Most of these characters were contemporaries of Mahfouz.
Auction: Modern & Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art, 25th Oct, 2023
