Reflections on the Pasha

December 15 2010, 9:00am

This mirror is an extremely rare example of a piece inspired by Western design but made in the Ottoman Empire, probably Istanbul. (Don’t be mislead by the photo–what looks like it might be an average-sized mirror is actually 7 feet tall!)

Its crest bears the Khedival crown and arms of Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas’ud ibn Agha (March 4, 1769 – August 2, 1849), who is regarded as the founder of modern Egypt, due to the extensive reforms in the military, economic and cultural spheres, which he carried out from the early 19th century onwards.

The lions, cannons, and drums of the cresting attest to the immense power and military prowess of Muhammad Ali, who, as commander of the Ottoman army, was charged with the task of driving Napoleon’s forces out of Egypt. However, when the French retreated, he seized power for himself, forcing the Ottoman Sultan to recognize him as Wāli, (governor) and then going on to adopt the self-appointed title of Khedive (akin to a viceroy), although this rank in the Muhammad Ali dynasty would not officially be recognized until 1867. Mehemet Ali Viceroy of Egypt by Louis-Charles-Auguste Courder, 1841.

The mirror retains all of its original gilded and painted surfaces. Given the quality and method of its gilding – it is rendered in silver and gold leaf – it is certain that that this piece must have been made in a royal Khedival workshop and would surely once have adorned one of the Imperial palaces commissioned by by Muhammad Ali such as the Al-Gawhara Palace and Museum, built in 1814 as “the first of two palaces with French-style salons in the Citidel,”1 and the Ras el-Tin, built in 1835 on the Alexandrian coast, from which he could oversee the harbor and naval fleet. The gilding and paint was preserved perfectly under a later layer of gold, which we had carefully removed by dry-stripping, which took many months. Ras el-Tin Palace. (Photo: Deutsches Bundesarchiv, August 1931)