Years before his 1832 trip to North Africa, Delacroix developed an interest in depicting objects from Islamic cultures. He discovered examples to study and copy among the miniatures, coins, and manuscripts in the royal library and works on view at the Louvre. Delacroix also owned a copy made by his friend Géricault after a Persian miniature (Bazin 2635). The original that served as the basis for this scene has yet to be identified.