A Turkish woman. Oil painting by a French or Dutch (?) painter, 17th century.

Similar to the figure of a woman in an engraved plate to George Sandys, A relation of a journey begun An. Dom.: 1610, London 1621. The woman wears pattens, called Nalin: "the shoes the sitter wears seem to be a special type of wooden clog, known as Nalin. The high heels served to protect wearers' feet from the water of the floors in the bathing houses. The base was carved from wood, and the strap from fabric or leather, ... In addition to their practicality, they became items of craftsmanship that carried symbolic meaning in Ottoman society. The design and manufacture of Nalin became an opportunity to display social status – the different heights of the shoes, for example, were indicative of the wearer’s social status" (Sotheby's catalogue, 29 July 2020, lot 120)