An inked inscription verso in a period hand reads: ‘Courtisannes egyptiennes / 1869’. As mentioned elsewhere in these pages, the level of cultural sensitivity displayed by some of these inscriptions is questionable, to say the least, and the accuracy of the titles given to these portraits is often suspect. Considering that the primary market for such cartes were tourists and armchair travellers, this is not altogether surprising, but if an inscription such as the one given here was intended to be taken seriously, the marketing is suggestive of both the vendor’s cynicism and the buyer’s gullibility.