Albumin print, Hippolyte Arnoux, Femme de Thèbes, circa 1880

This historical photograph shows an ethnographically invaluable, rare, and fascinating portrait view with the original title "Femme de Thèbes", taken as an original albumin print mounted on cardboard. 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, artfully arranged in portrait format, documents a seated Egyptian woman surrounded by traditional clay jugs, adorned with fine coin jewelry on her arms as well as an elaborately crafted necklace. The depiction reflects a romanticized studio staging typical of the late 19th century, which specifically catered to European concepts of the Oriental sphere and used the historical city of Thebes in Upper Egypt, in the area of modern-day Luxor, as a canvas for projection.

The authorship is undisputedly attributed to the famous French pioneering photographer Hippolyte Arnoux due to the original white signature in the photo negative, whose studio in Port Said, Egypt, was renowned for first-class ethnographic series. This culturally and historically significant collector's item originated around the year 1880. The rarity features the photograph dimensions of 28,2 x 22,1 cm mounted on a 31,5 x 25,5 cm original cardboard backing and is in good age-appropriate condition with a beautiful, even, slight toning. It shows small light creases at the edges and corners, a fine tear with minimal paper loss on the right margin of the image, a larger cardboard tear visible on the back without damage to the image surface, as well as a historical dealer sticker with a barcode.