Name of Object:

Harem

Location:

Paris, France

Holding Institution:

National Library of France

 About National Library of France, Paris

Date of Object:

c. 1870

Author:

Photographer: Pascal Sébah  (1823-1886)

Inventory Number:

EO-389-BOITE FOL B

Description:

Pascal Sébah (1823–1886) was a French photographer working in the Ottoman Empire. This photo of a harem is interesting insofar as it differs from the mainstream representations of harems in the Western imagination, which were influenced by the painter Gérôme. Indeed, many local customs - both real and imagined - captured the interest of European artists, and their Orientalist art then fuelled both the Western fascination with and revulsion towards the East.

Type of Object

Photograph

Archival or Bibliographical Reference:

EO-389-BOITE FOL B

Citation of this web page:

"Harem" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;fr;73;en

Translation by: Flaminia Baldwin

MWNF Working Number: FR 073