Lost Ottoman gem by Osman Hamdi Bey heads to auction in London

Long-missing masterpiece by Ottoman painter Osman Hamdi Bey, resurfaces after a century and is set to fetch up to £1.5 million at Sotheby’s Orientalist Art sale

Abdul Hamid Chohan

ANKARA, Türkiye (MNTV) – A remarkable rediscovery from the golden age of Ottoman painting is poised to capture global attention later this month, as Preparing Coffee, a long-lost artwork by legendary Ottoman painter and intellectual Osman Hamdi Bey, goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s Orientalist Art auction in London.

Valued between £1 million and £1.5 million ($1.3–$2 million), the painting is not only a visual feast but also a cultural artefact that bridges Eastern tradition and Western technique. 

Created in 1881, it vanished from public view for more than a century, known only through a single archival photograph taken the same year by renowned Ottoman-era photographers Pascal Sebah and Policarpe Joaillier.

“This was a very unexpected rediscovery,” said Claude Piening, senior international specialist of European paintings at Sotheby’s. “A longtime acquaintance approached me with the piece. It had passed hands quietly through European private collections since the 1930s and remained largely undocumented until now.”

The painting’s provenance is as captivating as the work itself. It was first acquired around 1910 by Prince Sadiq Yadigarov, a Georgian art collector of aristocratic lineage. It later passed to his son, Archil, and then into the collection of a Viennese family around 1930.

There it stayed, descending through generations, before being sold in 2008 to another Austrian collector. Only recently has it re-emerged into the public domain — to the delight of art historians and collectors alike.

The painting portrays two elegantly dressed young women preparing a traditional coffee service within an imagined architectural interior — possibly inspired by the lavish Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

The scene is highly detailed, with ornate Mamluk tiles, embroidered Ottoman textiles, Chinese porcelain, and even an ostrich egg pendant — a historical emblem of Islamic royalty and power.

Every object in the composition holds cultural weight. A velvet and metal-thread tablecloth cradles the coffee pot and delicate zarfs — ornamental cup holders unique to Ottoman coffee culture.

A Mamluk brass basin, embroidered towels, and a Caucasian runner underfoot reinforce the layers of material luxury and pan-Islamic heritage embedded in the scene.

“The coffee itself — and its ritual — is the symbolic centre of the painting,” said Piening. “It’s more than a beverage; it’s a lens through which Ottoman domestic life, hospitality, and spiritual culture are viewed.”

An inscription in Kufic Arabic script runs along the top architectural lintel, quoting a verse from the Quran.

This same inscription appears in another Hamdi Bey painting now housed in the Louvre Abu Dhabi, linking Preparing Coffee with his broader artistic and spiritual vision.

Painter who bridged 2 worlds

Osman Hamdi Bey is considered the most important figure in 19th-century Ottoman painting.

Born into a high-ranking Ottoman family, he was sent to Paris in the early 1860s to study law. 

But instead, he immersed himself in fine arts and archaeology, training under the French academic painters Jean-Léon Gérôme and Gustave Boulanger, both known for their Orientalist works.

Hamdi Bey later returned to Istanbul, where he held senior posts in government and cultural institutions.

He conducted pioneering archaeological excavations and in 1882 founded the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, becoming its first director.

Through this institution, he mentored a generation of artists who would define early modern Turkish art.

What set Hamdi Bey apart from other Orientalist painters — mostly European artists who painted imagined scenes of the “East” — was his authentic insider’s perspective.

He depicted his own culture with sensitivity, accuracy, and an eye for dignity, creating a powerful counter-narrative to the exoticised, often demeaning depictions common in Western art of the period.

“This painting is particularly interesting,” Piening notes, “because while it is composed in the French academic style, it comes from an Ottoman hand. It shows a Turkish subject, painted by a Turkish artist, for a European audience. It is, in every sense, a bridge between two worlds.”

Though highly influential in his lifetime, Hamdi Bey’s international profile has risen significantly in recent decades.

His works are now held in major institutions around the world, including in the United States, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

The upcoming sale at Sotheby’s could further cement his legacy among the most important Orientalist painters — not only as a chronicler of Ottoman life but as a cultural mediator between East and West.

Piening expects significant global interest in the auction. “Hamdi Bey is no longer just a Turkish icon.

His work is in high demand among collectors worldwide — from America to Abu Dhabi to Malaysia,” he said.

As Preparing Coffee prepares to return to the spotlight, it brings with it not just the opulence of the Ottoman era, but also a lasting message about the power of cross-cultural understanding through art.

“This is more than a painting,” Piening concludes. “It’s a piece of cultural history rediscovered.”