Portrait of the Hurrem Sultan Roxelana, estimated at £100,000-150,000 at Sotheby’s.
Roxelana, who was traded as a slave by Crimean Tartars, had an unprecedented relationship with the monarch, bearing him four sons including Selim II (when conventions dictated a concubine must bear only one) and becoming a true political confidante.
This painting on panel, one of the few likenesses produced within or soon after Roxelana’s lifetime, has a guide of £100,000-150,000 at Sotheby’s Arts of the Islamic World & India sale on October 27.
