Albumin print, Femme Fellah Et Son Enfant, Orientalism, late 19th century

This historical photograph shows an ethnographically and art-historically significant studio staging from North Africa, titled "Femme fellah et son enfant," taken as an original albumin print. The albumin process used was the dominant photochemical technique of that era, in which egg white was used to bind the light-sensitive silver salts to the paper, giving the photographs their characteristic warm sepia tone, a soft glossy surface, and high detail sharpness. The motif, composed in portrait format, documents a mother with her sleeping child in a classic Orientalist pose. The depicted woman is adorned with traditional jewelry of the region, including large earrings and a prominent nose ring, while the child embraces her. The image composition, with the bent hand at her head, the direct gaze into the camera, and an exposed breast, was deliberately arranged by the photo studio to match the contemporary aesthetic preferences of European buyers.

The authorship is attributed to a hitherto unknown photographer or studio that captured this historic document in the late 19th century, presumably in Egypt. The right side of the print features an original embossed stamp with letter combinations such as "T & M" and further characters, which refer to a contemporary collection and a publishing or archive stamp of the publisher at that time. From a historical perspective, this original albumin photo is of high value as it preserves the visual culture of Orientalism and the European perception of North Africa in that era as an authentic visual primary document.

The historical collector's item is available as a loose sheet, features the original dimensions of 28,2 x 22,2 cm, and is in good age-appropriate condition with a characteristic slight toning. The bottom margin features the original white text "1540 - Femme fellah et son enfant" within the photo negative.