The Governor’s House in Philadelphia (Alasehir)

Description

Featured in the 1836 collaborative work of Thomas Allom and Robert Walsh, this steel engraving depicts the magnificent interior of the Governor's House in Alaşehir (ancient Philadelphia), Manisa. While detailing the extraordinary wooden ceiling craftsmanship, elegant wall panels, and the traditional landscape fresco on the back wall of the era's civil architecture, the artwork aesthetically visualizes the administrative functioning, diplomacy, and council culture in the Ottoman provinces through local administrators and civilians negotiating a matter, smoking long pipes while seated on spacious divans.