A festive street, Cairo

This scene, of dancers in a Cairo street, was a favorite subject of Fabio Fabbi's. Ghawazi nomads, professional Egyptian dancers, were portrayed in a number of nineteenth-century Orientalist works. Although by the 1850s, the name almeh was applied to them and, indeed, to all public entertainers, this word more correctly designated female improvisors of songs and poems.

Almehs would perform in cafs and in private feasts in Cairo, but an 1834 edict issued by the viceroy Mohommed Ali banished them to Keneh, Esan and Aswan.

We are grateful to Lynne Thornton for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.