Featured Old Pastel Portrait on Oval Wooden Panel

I purchased this at a local consignment store recently. It is pastel on a wooden panel, I don't think it is solid wood, it looks more like hardboard. I scraped the edge with my nail and looked at it with a magnifier and it seems like a composite, also there are no seams. I took it out of the frame because it had become detached. The frame and the work do not appear to be from the same time period, it had a piece of that non-glare glass. Based on the original brown framing tape I would think maybe 1st quarter of the 20th century? There are a few numbers on the the back of the picture and the cardboard of the later framing job, I think maybe stock or auction numbers. The black material on the back of the panel seems to be some type of paper. I was hoping that someone would recognize the clothing the lady is wearing, I was thinking Eastern European? I don't having any hopes of figuring out an artist, I suspect an impossible task. Any thoughts, comments, ideas would be appreciated.

 

She is lovely.

I think Orientalist, rather than made in Eastern/Ottoman Europe.
German (and Austrian?) porcelain manufacturerers made small plaques with similar pretty Ottoman style ladies on them. Ottoman Europe wasn't too far away, but still exotic to the Western mind.

 

Agree. Orientalist. And from hair, early Victorian. European in origin because of numbering. This miniature is awfully similar; I'd do some research to see if copy of known work.

https://antiques-uncommon-treasure....MIifDmt4O1-AIVh21vBB3q-wXLEAQYBSABEgJf4_D_BwE

Debora

 

Well, we've found the original of the miniature!

Debora

 

I agree as the others say Orientalist. Odalisque probably fits and, in style at least, mid-19th C.

I think the picture Deborah shows certainly illustrates the type, but I would be hesitant to say that particular image is the original.

I thought this would be easy to find, but not so.

 

It is the original of the miniature Debora posted, but different to Lithographer's lady.

 

Oops, @Debora , did it again, wrote your name with an h at the end. Edited it, and apologies.

 

Not a problem, Any Jewelry. You know the old joke... "Call me anything but late for dinner."

Debora

 

You do realize that your pastel is that somewhat rare example of, "She's looking right at me!"

I have one that I cannot confront with a guilty conscience.
She KNOWS!

 

"Not a problem, Any Jewelry. You know the old joke... "Call me anything but late for dinner."

Debora"

 

You know... I wouldn't consider either of those paintings of an "odalisque" as the commonly accepted definition is this:

"The French term odalisque came to refer specifically to a concubine in a harem. Odalisques were very popular subjects in European Orientalist art of the 19th century. Typically, the scantily and exotically dressed odalisque poses as if on display for the (assumed) male viewer."

Here is Ingres' 'Grand Odalisque.'

Debra

 

I wouldn't either. To me she is an 'Ottoman beauty', probably Balkans or Greece.
I used to wear a similar costume to the first one in an Albanian dance by our dance group, way back when.

 

I agree re inspiration for costume. Greece or thereabouts.

Debora

 

@Debora, THAT has QUITE the link to an Antiques site for sale!!! WOW!! Totally off topic, I realize!!

 

My apologies to Debora.

 

Don't be silly. No need.

Debora

 

Thanks for all of the responses. An image search does bring up some similar works in pastel, no exact matches. I guess it might be a bit older than I thought.

 

That hairstyle, flat front with center part plus soft sides covering the ears is typical of the early Victorian period. Here's a young Queen Victoria with something not dissimilar.

Debora

 

Quite a beautiful pastel-wish I could see it in person.Is this 'Oil Pastel' (pigment w/a 'greasy' feeling oil binder),or a pure non-binder (non-sticky) Pastel,ie: if you blow on it (don't do this too forcefully !) does it rise like 'colored dust' ? Either way be very careful handling this treasure.Lovely Pre or Victorian rendering-could Byron or Shelly have gazed upon this jewel at the Villa Deodati ?

 

Yes, I already did that. It had shed quite a bit and caught on the edge of the old mat. I carefully blew the dust off. I am just storing it flat for now. The picture had shifted at some point and the mat left some marks.