Portrait of a Wedding Camel, Original Oil on Canvas by Alfred Couverchel, Signed, 19th Century

A single camel stands facing the viewer on a sandy track, dressed for a wedding. Over its back rises a tall canopied litter, its frame bound in bands of red, green and cream, and from its crown three dark plumes stand up against the sky. A deep fringe of woven wool falls from the litter over the animal's flanks on both sides, worked in blue green, brick red and cream, long enough to brush the ground.

The camel's own head is turned slightly to its left and its mouth is open. Its front feet are placed one before the other, so the whole load is caught in the moment of walking rather than standing still.

Behind, low hills run across the picture in olive and khaki, dry and without vegetation apart from one green mass at the right. The sky above them is a flat clear turquoise. The ground is bare sand, warm and pale, and the animal throws a long shadow to the left, which places the sun low and to the right of the painter.

Signed at the lower right, the canvas is presented in a wide painted frame, salmon brown on the outer mouldings and deep green on the inner panel, with quarter disc motifs at the sides. The frame shows small losses.