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131 - Jellal BEN ABDALLAH (Tunis 1921-2017) Women at the Toilet, c…
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Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
Sale commission
Description
Jellal BEN ABDALLAH (Tunis 1921-2017) Women at the Toilet, circa 1970 Miniature, watercolour and gold leaf on card. 14 x 11 cm Signed lower right in Arabic and Latin letters ben abdallah. *** Mixed media on cardboard with gold highlights, signed lower right in Arabic and Latin (5½ × 4⅜ in.) The authenticity of this work has been kindly confirmed by Amin BOUKER. Provenance Private collection, since 1973 Bibliography Amin Bouker, Jellal Ben Abdallah, sous l'artifice, la simplicité, Cérès Éditions, reproduced p. 588. The composition depicts an enclosed, harmonious feminine universe: four women gathered in a Sidi Bou Saïd interior with zellige walls, while through the window the silhouette of Jebel Bou Kornine silently anchors the scene in the Tunisian landscape. In the foreground, a kohl bottle and its silver dish - emblematic pieces of traditional goldsmithery - accompany the suspended gesture of one of the figures; Ben Abdallah treats them with the same meticulousness applied to the faces and costumes, elevating each object to the status of a subject in its own right. But the toilet scene here is no more than a pretext. By bringing together four figures in a rigorously balanced composition, Ben Abdallah discreetly conjures up the four cardinal points and the four seasons, turning this Tunisian interior into an image of an ordered world - an ancient cosmos, where the everyday gesture becomes universal and eternal.
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About the sale Arab, African & Indian Modernities
Auction location
Auction time 06/18/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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