Lost and Found: The Rediscovery of Osman Hamdi Bey’s ‘Preparing Coffee’

A long-lost painting by one of the Ottoman Empire’s most prominent artists fetches over £1 million at auction – and brings renewed attention to his complex legacy.

Acentury-old artwork that vanished from public view has re-emerged on the global art stage—and with it, a renewed curiosity about its creator. On 29 April 2025, Preparing Coffee (1881), a painting by celebrated Ottoman painter and archaeologist Osman Hamdi Bey, was sold for £1.016 million (approximately 52 million Turkish lira) at Sotheby’s London as part of its Orientalist Art sale.

The painting had been presumed lost for decades. Its existence had previously only been confirmed via a black-and-white photograph taken by the photography studio Sébah & Joaillier in the year of its creation. The work’s rediscovery, now with its colours restored to public memory, has captivated art historians and collectors alike.

“This is not just a financial milestone,” said Barış Kıbrıs, curator at the Pera Museum’s Orientalist Painting Collection, speaking to BBC Turkish. “It’s a cultural one. Seeing a once-lost painting in full colour, after years of relying on monochrome archives, is genuinely moving.”

A Hidden Journey Across Borders

The painting’s long absence is nearly as fascinating as the work itself. After being acquired in the early 1900s by Georgian collector Prince Sadık Yadigarov, the painting passed through generations before being relocated to Austria in the 1930s. It remained in private collections until resurfacing for auction this spring.

Depicting two women preparing coffee in what appears to be a richly adorned interior—possibly an imagined room of the Topkapı Palace harem—the painting is noted for its intricate architectural references and meticulous design. Tiles, textiles, and costume elements reappear across Hamdi Bey’s oeuvre, suggesting a deliberate studio method. “He photographed models in garments from his personal collection, sometimes modelling for male figures himself,” explains Kıbrıs.

Notably, the woman in the yellow kaftan seen in Preparing Coffee also appears in Hamdi’s well-known work Girl Reading the Qur’an, sold in 2019 for £6.3 million.

More Than Orientalism

Though often grouped with European Orientalist painters of the 19th century, Osman Hamdi Bey’s approach is distinct in both tone and content. While Western depictions of harems typically leaned towards the eroticised and exoticised, Hamdi Bey’s women are clothed, composed, and engaged in everyday tasks: preparing beverages, arranging flowers, or playing music.

“This isn’t escapist fantasy,” says conservation specialist Filiz Kuvvetli. “It’s constructed realism—designed, yes, but grounded in context.”

Kuvvetli, who has analysed Hamdi Bey’s paintings under infrared and UV light, attests to the artist’s technical precision. “He meticulously sketched each motif onto the canvas beforehand. The planning, the brushwork, the quality of materials—it all reflects an artist entirely in command of his medium.”

Hamdi Bey’s use of high-quality imported oils and linen, rare in the Ottoman Empire at the time, has likely contributed to the enduring condition of his works.

Why It Matters Now

The return of Preparing Coffee to public attention is timely. As debates around restitution, heritage, and cultural representation echo across museums and auction houses, the rediscovery of Ottoman art challenges the often Eurocentric narratives that dominate the 19th-century art canon.

Moreover, Hamdi Bey’s career as a painter was only one facet of his legacy. As founder of the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts and director of the Imperial Museum, he laid the foundations of Turkey’s modern art and archaeology institutions. His scientific excavations and progressive museology are as significant as his canvases.

Still, the sale raises perennial questions: should such culturally significant works remain in private hands? Or do they belong in public collections, particularly in the country of their origin?

For now, Preparing Coffee has joined the lineage of rediscovered masterpieces. Whether it resurfaces again—perhaps in a museum—remains to be seen.

Who Was Osman Hamdi Bey?

Osman Hamdi Bey (1842–1910) was a pioneering Ottoman painter, archaeologist, and museum curator. Originally sent to Paris to study law, he diverted his path toward fine art, studying under leading Orientalist painters Gérôme and Boulanger.

Upon returning to Istanbul, Hamdi Bey became the founding director of the Imperial Museum (now the Istanbul Archaeological Museums) and established Turkey’s first art academy in 1882. His paintings are known for merging Western techniques with Eastern subjects, often portraying Muslim women with unprecedented dignity and realism. He remains a central figure in both Turkey’s cultural heritage and the broader history of non-Western modern art.