Portrait of Mabkhaut bin Arbain ... Type:unstretched canvas

Portrait of Mabkhaut bin Arbain ... Type:unstretched canvasPortrait of Mabkhaut bin Arbain and Salim bin Kabina, members of Wilfred Thesiger's travelling party, preparing food in the Ramlat ar Rabbad sands. At the left Mabkhaut bin Arbain, a tribesman of the Bayt Gidad lineage of Bayt Kathir Bedouin, sits cross legged in the sand. He is cradling a bag, possibly a water skin, in his lap. At the right, Salim bin Kabina, a tribesman of the Bayt Imani lineage of Rashid Bedouin, kneels sideways in the sand. He is

The falcon holds its wings out from its body in order to maintain its balance on the bustard and shield its prey from other predators

with two men standing in the foreground

Distant view of a boom

In the background other members of the party rest in the sand

and its head faces directly forward

Behind them a large crowd of people and animals fills the town square

A hooded peregrine falcon perches on a mangalah (cuff) on his other arm

On the left a rowboat is moored beside a cloth-covered structure that extends into the creek

with Warad

moored in the port at Mahón

faces forward

Behind him is a pile of blankets