Maison bonfils (1 Ergebnisse)

Collection of 32 albumen photographs of Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt, assembled by a German traveller who took part in an organised journey accompanying Kaiser Wilhelm II's state visit to the Ottoman Empire in 1898. Preserved in a portfolio with the title "Orient-Reise 1898. H.B.", the photographs mainly depict mosques, palaces, churches and other important landmarks encountered along the route and include works by several of the leading commercial photographers active in the region: Mihran Iranian (fl. 1891-1900), the American Colony Photography Department (fl. 1890s-1940s), Maison Bonfils (1867-1918), and the Zangaki brothers (fl. 1870-1890).The trip was organised by Carl Stangen's Reisebüro in Berlin, the first German international travel agency. In October 1898, Stangen organised a tour to the Middle East whose participants travelled in connection with Kaiser Wilhelm II's voyage to the Levant. The unidentified owner of the present collection, with the initials "H.B., was part of the Stangen group and travelled with the party through Turkey and Palestine, where Wilhelm dedicated the newly built Lutheran Church of the Redeemer on 31 October. When the imperial party returned to Germany, the group continued to Egypt. Of particular importance in the present collection is the single unsigned photograph, which shows the sizeable Stangen group posing at the pyramids of Giza. H.B. is likely among them, but has not been identified.The other photographs depict landmarks encountered during the trip. The ten smallest photographs, taken by the Armenian photographer Mihran Iranian, are all of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), including the Hagia Sophia, Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Nusretiye Mosque and Dolmabahçe Palace. Iranian's photographs are among the rarest produced by the major Armenian photographic studios active in the city, with fewer than 300 images known to survive. Eleven photographs signed by the American Colony Photo Department concentrate on Jerusalem and its surroundings, including the Western Wall, Jaffa Gate, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane and sites at Bethlehem. The American Colony photographers extensively documented Wilhelm II's visit to Jerusalem in 1898, making their presence in this collection especially interesting. The remaining ten photographs, taken by Bonfils and the Zangaki brothers, show Cairo, its Citadel and other sites in Egypt.The portfolio is somewhat rubbed, especially on the spine. The photographs are warped, but otherwise in good condition.l Cf. Hannavy, Encyclopaedia of 19th-century photography, pp. 173-175 (Bonfils), and p. 1521 (Zangaki). Contemporary portfolio, half green morocco and dark blue pebble-grained cloth sides, with "Orient-Reise 1898" and "H. B." stamped in gold on the front board, lined with floral paper, green closing ties. With 32 albumen prints (ca. 18.5 x 25.7 cm and ca. 23.5 x 27.7 cm) mounted on cardstock, most signed and captioned in French the negative, a German manuscript caption in red ink below.…