A watercolour view of the Great Bazaar in Constantinople. Signed and dated at lower right: E. Stockler 1849

This watercolour was among the contents (books, and albums of watercolours) of a large bookcase made by the Austrian furniture makers Leistler & Sons, which was displayed at the Great Exhibition, and was presented to Queen Victoria by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1851. Today the bookcase is on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The watercolour was made by the Austrian landscape and genre painter Emanuel Stöckler, who travelled to the east before becoming painter to the Austrian court.