Seated portrait of an Arab falconer, a member of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's hunting party, holding a peregrine falcon in Al Khatam sands near Jebel Hafeet (Jabal Hafit). A man kneels in sand dotted with small shoots of vegetation with a peregrine falcon perched on his mangalah (cuff). He wears a patterned ghutra (headscarf) with frayed edges tied tightly around his head and a thobe (long shirt) cinched with a cartridge belt. He holds the cuff near his waist. The falcon is perched on the mangalah looking over its shoulder towards the camera. In the background small tufts of sedge grow across a vast expanse of flat sand bordered by a far dune. This image was taken between December 20, 1948, and January 27, 1949, during which time Wilfred Thesiger stayed with Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in Al Ain and joined him on a number of hunting excursions.
Due to the nature of these images, prints will reproduce any signs of age, wear or damage that occurred before they were archived by the Pitt Rivers Museum.