Hanzade Sultan

Zehra Hanzade ibrahim Osmanoglu (1923-1998), Abdülmecid Efendi's granddaughter, was born in the Dolmabahçe Palace. Her father was Omer Faruk Efendi and her mother was Sabiha Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Vahideddin. Thus Hanzade Sultan, along with her sisters Neslişah Sultan and Neda Sultan, were the only members of the Ottoman dynasty to be descended from the royal bloodline on both sides of the family. Hanzade Sultan was exiled to Nice with the rest of the dynasty in 1924, before her first birthday, and spent the rest of her childhood in France. After her marriage to Kavalah Prince Mehmed Ali Ibrahim in 1940, she settled in Egypt. When the Egyptian monarchy was abolished in 1952, she was exiled once again, and moved to Paris to spend the rest of her life there.

Hanzade Sultan is one of many portraits Abdülmecid Efendi painted of members of his family. These works included portraits of his father, Sultan Abdulaziz, and previous Ottoman sultans, as well as intellectuals and artists from his inner circle. Abdülmecid Efendi painted his granddaughter in Nice in 1936, when he was sixty-eight and she was thirteen years old. The young Hanzade poses for her grandfather with her hands folded in her lap, seated in a chair placed in front of a saffron-coloured drape. Her blue kimono with embroidered flowers on the lapels and sleeves could be an indication that the Japonisme movement, which had a great influence on European fashion during the 1930s, was also in favor among members of the Ottoman dynasty.