Ottoman Panoramic View of Mecca. 19th century A.D. A framed gouache on cardboard painting portraying an important panoramic view of Mecca, with a detailed representation of the Kaaba, showing the mosque from inside the surrounding wall and arcades with small domes in perspective; the mosque houses three kiosks and on the horizon are the city buildings and one of the seven mountains surrounding the city. See Burton, R., Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al -Madinah Meccah, London, 1893, p.341, cited in Vernoit, S., Occidentalism, Collection of Islamic Art Nasser D. Khalili, London, 1997, p.33. 4 kg, 76.5 x 62 cm including frame (30 x 24 1/2 in.) Private European collection. Millon Sale, 2018, lot 318. Property of a London gallery. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate no.11143-186787. The first precise views of Mecca are normally limited to Ottoman representations in oil and engraved views. There are very few who try to illustrate anything other than the Kaaba itself. There are other representations - Iznik tiles and Ottoman manuscripts are an abundant source, especially the many religious manuscripts produced in the 16th century, including Dala'il al-Khayrat and Futuh al-Haramayn. These illustrations are however schematic and therefore unreliable. Our view is distinguished by the point of view chosen. While most of the views are drawn in a flattened perspective, or with a plunging perspective, the artist here is located inside the enclosure, employing a direct perspective. The author of this view is probably Indian. When he went to Mecca in 1853, Richard Burton wrote that a number of Indian artists were there 'drawing in pencil and in pen sacred shrines'.