Performances on the fifth day: A magician, Hajji Şahin and his troupe, tightrope-walkers, and dancers

 

66a

 

65b

In the frame at the right (65b), the sultan and his retinue are seated at the entrance to the imperial pavilion. One of the princes is present. Immediately outside the entrance are the grand vizier, Ali Pasha, İbrahim Pasha, and Mustafa Pasha watching the performance of a magician while Mehmed Agha looks in the other direction at the events in the opposite frame. The white and gray-robed figure in the lower right corner is a young magician done up in the costume of a Bektaşi dervish. Arrayed around him are a number of objects--dishes and pans of food and fruits, a tall conical object shaped like a trumpet, and a small flowing fountain--all of which he extracted from within his garments in the course of his act. In (66a) the irrepressible Hajji Şahin is back again with his troupe in the foreground. For this performance, four horses were stood side by side and hoops were set on the saddles of each. With a single movement, Hajji Şahin (who appears in the lower left corner getting ready to jump) passed through all four of them at once. In the middle ground, two acrobats perform on a tightrope while musicians and dancers perform behind them. A handful of commoners peer over the hill.


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