Lot 64
A TRADITIONAL ETHIOPIAN PAINTING OF AHMAD IBN IBRAHIM IN BATTLE
AFRICA, 20TH CENTURY
Auction: 09 December 2026 from 14:00 GMT
Description
painting on cloth, depicting Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al- (c.1506-1543) the Imam of the Adal Sultanate, mounted on a horse with sword drawn charging into battle, below his soldiers engage in the same fight, in the top left hand corner soldiers seek shelter behind a wall with rifles pointed at the charging troops, glazed and framed
Dimensions
sight seen 87cm x 131cm, with frame 92.5cm x 137cm
Provenance
Formerly the collection of Don Burke (1915-1973), American journalist; thence by descent.
As a prominent mid-century war correspondent for Time and Life magazines Chief, Don Burke provided Americans with a vital window into the volatile post-WWII conflicts of North Africa and the Middle East. While navigating regional instability and heavy Egyptian censorship, his frontline reporting famously placed him in extreme danger during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. There, he narrowly escaped death outside Jerusalem by dodging sniper fire "by a hairsbreadth" and spending a terrifying half-hour pinned behind a stone wall. This dramatic close call became legendary within Time-Life newsrooms, cementing his legacy as a fearless American journalist at the crossroads of Africa and the Mediterranean.
Footnote
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (c. 1506–1543), called "the Left-Handed," was an Adal Sultanate leader who conquered three-quarters of the Christian Ethiopian Empire. By securing a critical military alliance with the Ottoman Empire, he acquired advanced artillery and Turkish musketeers to wage a proxy war against Portuguese-backed Ethiopians. Ahmad was ultimately killed by a regrouped Ethiopian-Portuguese force at the Battle of Wayna Daga in 1543, leading to the collapse of his empire. Today, his legacy remains deeply polarised celebrated as a national hero in Somalia but remembered as a destructive invader in Ethiopia.