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This exotic scene from China features market traders beneath a pagoda selling silks, birds, spices, porcelain, fans and other Eastern riches. Wealthy shoppers appear in fine robes, escorted on rickshaws. Interestingly, a camel is depicted with a howdah and a parasol for the use of a rich merchant.<br/><br/> Boucher never visited China. It is thought he produced this tapestry on a Beauvais loom by replicating designs from imported Oriental porcelain and from sketches drawn by Dutchman Arnoldus Montanus during his voyage to Japan in the 17th century.
A ‘harem’ is not a bordello, seraglio or brothel, but refers to the women’s quarters, usually in a polygynous household, which are forbidden to men. It originated in the Near East and is typically associated in the Western world with the Ottoman Empire.<br/><br/> Female seclusion in Islam is emphasized to the extent that any unlawful breaking into that privacy is ḥarām ie, 'forbidden'. A Muslim harem does not necessarily consist solely of women with whom the head of the household has sexual relations (wives and concubines), but also their young offspring, other female relatives or odalisques, which are the concubines’ servants. The harem may either be a palatial complex, as in Romantic tales, in which case it includes staff (women and eunuchs), or simply their quarters, in the Ottoman tradition separated from the men's selamlık.<br/><br/> A hammam is a common bath house.