Two miniatures from a copy of Fadil-i Enderuni’s Zenanname (Book of Women)

In the 18th century, Ottoman painting was increasingly influenced by art from Europe, as can be seen in the landscape background of this charming depiction of an Ethiopian woman.

Fadil-i Enderuni’s Book of Women, written in the last decades of the 18th century, ostensibly deals with the merits and defects of respectable women from all over the world. It is, however, largely erotically oriented, something that one might suspect from this depiction of “An Ethiopian Woman”.

The second miniature shows a Circassian woman from the Caucasus, who is depicted and described in a far more modest and less exotic manner than the Ethiopian. Circassian women were coveted concubines in the Ottoman harem throughout the ages.

Simultaneously with his Book of Women Fadil-i Enderuni also wrote a treatise discussing young men from all over the world, which is titled Hubanname (Book of the Fair). Both works were also included in several erotic manuals featuring illustrations of a far more explicit nature than Enderuni’s texts.