One of the Best Women in the Sultan—Fatma

This hand-colored lithograph depicts a woman in elaborate early 18th-century dress, her massive skirts dominating the composition while tiny courtiers attend her at ground level. The Russian caption identifies her as a sultan's woman. The work descends from the tradition of political and social caricature—from Hogarth's moral narratives through Gillray's political attacks to 19th-century picture-sheets—where exaggeration of dress, scale, and setting mocked power and pretension. The grotesquely inflated gown reduces the figure to costume and status, while diminutive attendants emphasize her dominance.