'Indoor costume'

A carte-de-visite portrait of an Egyptian wearing the sort of costume favoured by women who worked in houses of ill-repute.

An inked inscription verso in a period hand, reads ‘Egyptienne, 1869’.

Photographed by Royer and Aufière of Cairo.

’[Louis] Royer and [Clovis] Aufière had a partnership in Cairo probably during the early 1860’s. The work of this pair is rare and identified photographs have consisted mostly of cartes-de-visite portraits of native types taken in the studio, some of which are beautifully composed. They are also important as they represent examples of early photographic representations of native people. Royer and Aufière were succeeded by Ermé Desiré. As Desiré is listed as being in Cairo from 1865, it seems likely that Royer and Aufière had only a short career in Egypt. In about 1863, Royer opened a studio 15, rue Cannebière in Marseilles and was joined there by Aufière in around 1865.’

The above paragraph is taken from Ken Jacobson’s Odalisques and Arabesques: Orientalist Photography 1839-1925 (Quaritch, 2007).