Name of Object:

Mount Gilboa from Sulem, a woman spinning cotton

Location:

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

Holding Institution:

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Department

 About Sharjah Museums Authority, Sharjah

Date of Object:

Published 1881–1884

Author:

Philip Meerer (after a pencil drawing by John Douglas Woodward 1846–1924) (Date of birth unknown-d. 1913)

Inventory Number:

SM2006-807

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Coloured wood engraving

Dimensions:

185 mm x 250 mm

Provenance:

New York

Description:

19th-century Palestine was an increasingly viable, agricultural producer of cotton, whose importance on the world market was steadily increasing. Mainly supplying European countries, cotton became a key commodity. 6% of the cultivated land of Palestine was given up. Throughout the 1860s, concerted efforts were made to meet demand, but as early as the 1870s, the industry, which was merely based on expanded cultivation rather than industrialisation, declined again. This print originally appeared in Vol.1, page 269 of Charles William Wilson's 'Pituresque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, published between 1881 and 1884. The caption reads: 'Mount Gilboa from Sulem (Shunem). The northern extremity of the range of Jebel Fuku'a (Gilboa) is shown; the highest point is crowned by the sanctuary of Neby Mezar. In the foreground a woman is spinning cotton.

Type of Object

Coloured wood engraving

Citation of this web page:

Ulrike al-Khamis "Mount Gilboa from Sulem, a woman spinning cotton" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;ua;35;en;en

Prepared by: Ulrike Al-Khamis

MWNF Working Number: UA 036