One painting wey 19th-century Ottoman painter, Osman Hamdi Bey, do don sell for £1 million ($1.3 million) for one auction wey dem do for London. Dis painting, wey dem call 'Preparing Coffee,' draw plenty interest from collectors and institutions.

Dis painting, wey dem paint for 1881, don resurface after e don dey hide for more than 100 years for private European collections. Before now, people sabi am only from one black-and-white photo wey famous photographers, Jean Pascal Sebah and Policarpe Joaillier, take dat same year.

Di sale make am di most expensive artwork for di auction, wey dem sell 50 artworks one after di other. One anonymous buyer buy di painting through phone bid on Tuesday.

Di painting first enter di hand of Prince Sadiq Yadigarov, one art collector from Georgia, around 1910. Later, e pass to im pikin, Archil, and by 1930, e enter di hand of one private collector for Vienna wey dey related to Archil by marriage. Di painting remain for di family until 2008.

Since dat time, di painting dey for another private Austrian collection until e recently show face again. Di artwork show two young women wey dey prepare ritual coffee for one richly decorated place wey get tiles and columns. Di setting fit be one imagined harem for Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace.

Even though di setting no be real, di painting dey full of fine details wey make am look like jewel. As Sotheby’s catalogue talk, di painting dey give 'sumptuous and jewel-like impression of luxe.'

Osman Hamdi Bey, wey come from one elite Ottoman family, go Paris for di early 1860s to study law, but e later find im passion for painting and archaeology. By using Western artistic style to show Eastern subjects, Hamdi Bey no just follow di 19th-century market for Orientalist art, but e also use im deep knowledge of Muslim culture to create respectful and detailed portrayals of Ottoman life.