Accession Number

2012.007.002.054

Description

Black and white photograph of a woman wearing a skirt and blazer with button up shirt, a tie and a light coloured cloche hat. She is sitting on top of a camel in front of the Sphinx, with two Arabian boys standing on either side of her wearing caps and light coloured robes. One boy is holding the reins of the camel and the other is holding a jug on his head.

Narrative

The woman sat on the camel is not yet identified. Extensive excavation of the site around the Sphinx began in late 1925. From the proximity of the people in this photograph and the landscape around them, it appears that image predates the excavation work. The pyramid behind is the Pyramid of Khufu (also known as Cheops).

Although there is no evidence that Elinor was the creator of these photographs, the location depicted in this photograph doubtless inspired a ballet she composed, which was staged in Monte Carlo in 1927. In The Sphinx, a young boy is transfixed by a vision of a beautiful woman who emerges from a cave in a sand hill near the Sphinx. She curses him and places a dagger in his hands, which he then uses to mortally stab himself as she recedes back into the cave. 

History of Use

This photograph was taken in Egypt about 1925 and later placed in an album created by the James and Laura Dunsmuir family at Hatley Park. 

Some of the images of Hatley Park in the album show minimal landscaping, suggesting those photos date from when the house was newly completed, around 1910. At least one of the album's photographs was used as a post card and a postmark on the back shows a date of 1929, giving an approximate date range for the photographs in the album.

Sometime after Laura Miller Dunsmuir's death in 1937, the album became the property of Dola Frances Dunsmuir (also known as Mrs. Dola Cavendish) and was kept at her house Dolaura in Colwood, B.C. After her death, the album was owned by her sister Kathleen's daughter, Judith Humphreys (also known as Mrs. Judith Joy). Her daughter donated the album to Craigdarroch Castle in 2012.

Date

circa 1925

Dimensions

8.5 x 13.8 cm

Support

Paper, Photographic paper

Country of Origin

Egypt