A Eunuch's Dream
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
unframed: 39.3 × 65.4 cm · framed: 54 × 74.5 × 5.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin
Accession Number
1991.173
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
This painting, inspired by Charles Montesquieu's Persian Letters (published in 1721), depicts a eunuch who wanted to marry a harem slave. He experienced a vision of her while smoking his opium pipe, but her little companion holding a knife dripping with blood reminds us that the eunuch's anatomy precludes the fulfillment of his dream. The outline of a hand next to the signature is a khamsa, a symbol used to ward off evil.