1844
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Sheik Abdul Kadir Mugrabi - The Magician of Egypt is a 1844 watercolor by Godfrey Thomas Vigne, a Orientalism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This watercolor portrait depicts Sheik Abdul Kadir Mugrabi, a 19th-century Egyptian magician known as the Magician of Egypt, who conducted séances in Cairo that attracted notable European visitors including Henry Salt, Edward Lane, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The central ritual involved a young boy staring at a drop of ink in his palm, who then described visions in response to questions posed by the Shaykh. Lane initially documented the performances in his 1836 book *Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians*, but later observers grew skeptical of the magician’s claimed abilities. The…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Godfrey Thomas Vigne was an English amateur cricketer and traveller.
See the richer artist page
