Name of Object:

Wadi el-Tuffah

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:

J. Harley (after a drawing by Harry Fenn 1838–1911)

Inventory Number:

SM2006-864

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Coloured wood engraving

Dimensions:

229 mm x 211 mm

Provenance:

Published in New York

Description:

In this image, a Palestinian lady uses a traditional spinning wheel for cotton. 19th-century Palestine became an increasingly viable, agricultural producer of cotton, whose importance on the world market was steadily increasing. Mainly supplying European countries Palestine's cotton became a key commodity. 6% of its cultivated land was given up for its production. Throughout the 1860s, concerted efforts were made to meet the ever growing 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 on page 192 in Charles William Wilson's 'Pituresque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, published between 1881 and 1884. The caption reads: ''Wady et Tuffah, commonly called the vale of Eshcol. The peasants grouped in the foreground are under the southern branches of Abraham's oak. In the distance the minaret of the great mosque of Sheikh Ali Bakka, Hebron, may be distinguished'.

Type of Object

Coloured wood engraving

Citation of this web page:

Ulrike al-Khamis "Wadi el-Tuffah" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;ua;36;en

Prepared by: Ulrike Al-Khamis

MWNF Working Number: UA 037