Chef des Huissiers, plate fourteen from Caravanne du Sultan à la Mecque 1748

Joseph Marie Vien created “Chef des Huissiers” as plate fourteen from Caravanne du Sultan à la Mecque. This etching reflects eighteenth-century European Orientalism, a fascination with the Middle East which often exoticized and misrepresented its cultures. Vien, who never actually visited the depicted regions, relied on secondhand accounts and his imagination to construct this image of Ottoman life, portraying the Chef des Huissiers, or Chief Usher, as an emblem of imperial power. Consider how the figure's elaborate attire—the feathered turban, the fur-lined robe—serves to “other” him, marking him as distinctly foreign. The print invites viewers to consider the politics of representation and the ways in which cultural difference can be exaggerated or distorted through the lens of artistic interpretation. It prompts us to think about the gaze, and who it belongs to.