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Egypt Egyptian families chronology Khedivate family portraits
Possible Egyptian Family (1875)
Figure 1.-- Here is an early Egyptian portrait which we assume was meant to be a family image. We have no details about the family or even if it is an actual family. It seems to have been one of the many ethnographic photographss taken at the time. There were similar images taken in 1875. We at first thought it was a husband holding a child, but after thinking about it, the clothing looks more like a woman's outfit than a man's. We now think what is being depicted is a houshold slave woman. The mother is could be the woman sitting down. Another possibility is that the husband could have two wives. Or it may be three generations with the older woman may be a grandmother. We welcome readers to provide any insights that might have. Notice there are no face coverings. At the time many Egyptian women wore face coverings. Amd in another image the mother her is wearing a face covering. Click on the image to see the similar photograph.
We begin to see what may be family images when European began setting up studios in Cario and other cities (1870s). As best we can tell, there was no great interest aming Egyptian men to have portraits of their family taken. The family was seen as a very private matter. At the time, few women could have had a family or individual porttait taken without the permission of their husbands. The earliest portaits we have found look more like ethnographic portaits for sale to Europeans and not portaits that Egyptian men has taken of their families. Here is one such portait (figure 1). We have no details about the family or even if it is an actual family. The dealer dates it to the 1880s, but we have found similar images taken in 1875. We at first thought it was a husband holding a child, but after thinking about it, the clothing looks more like a woman's outfit than a man's. We now think it is a houshold slave woman. The mother is probably the woman sitting down. Another possibility is that the husband had two wives. Or it may be three generatiins with the older woman may be a grandmother. We welcome readers to provide any insights that might have. Notice there are no face coverings. At the time many Egyptian women wore face coverings.
