Historical Ottoman Empire officials and ethnic groups.
WITHIN the walls of the Seraglio, and especially within that part called the Harem, which is set apart for the females attached to the Sultan, no small degree of authority is necessary to keep good order and prevent quarrels, particularly when great numbers of females are confined to one spot, without any one object but to decorate their persons, and to endeavour to please their sublime master.
The business of the lady, who is the subject of this plate, is to preserve such order, and to punish the Odalisks, so called to distinguish them from the favourites of the Sultan, as will be mentioned in the last plate of this work.
