A Eunuch's Dream
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin
Museum

A Eunuch's Dream

1874
Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ (French, 1842–1923) visual detail
ArtistJean Lecomte du Nouÿ (French, 1842–1923)
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Market Intelligence

Observed sale facts, comparable evidence, artist index history and modeled research remain separate.

Public evidence
Last known price—0 matched observed sales
Observed median—
Observed sales0
Artist index—
No rights-cleared normalized observed sale is attached to this artwork. No synthetic price history is shown.
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Comparable Sales

Same-artist public sales ranked by medium, creation year, dimensions and sale recency.

Evidence ranked
No public-rights comparable sales meet the current evidence criteria. RELICT does not fill the table with research-only or licensed-only facts.

Provenance

Public
1977

(Sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, April 28, 1977, lot 209, possibly sold to Noah L. and Muriel...

Possibly 1977-1991

(Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin, Cleveland, Ohio, given by Muriel S. Butkin to the Cleveland Museum of...

1991-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Source provenance text

(Sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, April 28, 1977, lot 209, possibly sold to Noah L. and Muriel Butkin) (Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin, Cleveland, Ohio, given by Muriel S. Butkin to the Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Exhibitions

Public
Source exhibition text

Signs of Affection: Gifts Honoring the Museum's 75th Anniversary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 1992-January 3, 1993). From Homer to the Harem: The Art of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ. Dahesh Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (June 22-September 19, 2004). European Orientalists: From Delacroix to Kandinsky. Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (October 15, 2010-January 9, 2011); Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, Germany (organizer) (January 29-May 1, 2011); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille, Marseille, France (May 20-August 21, 2011). Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, N.Y.; Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, College at Purchase. Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800-1880 (1982), no. 55, 81 (repr.), 83. Dahesh Museum of Art (6/22/2004 - 9/19/2004): "From Homer to the Harem: The Art of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ" Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (10/15/2010 - 1/9/2011), Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung [organizer] (1/29/2011 - 5/1/2011), and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille (5/20/2011 - 8/21/2011): "European Orientalists: From Delacroix to Kandinsky", ex. cat. no. 148, p. 181.

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Sourced Overview Evidence

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.

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Evidence state

0 observed sales · 0 comparable sales · 3 structured provenance events · 3 structured exhibitions.

Place Of OriginShort DescriptionProvenance TextExhibition HistoryCredit Line