The Kislar Aghassi, Chief of the Black Eunuchs of the Sultan

The inscription on the back calls him the eunuch, or servant of the women, of the Great Lord, and the yellow number 11 gives his place in the set. His Turkish title, kızlar ağası, means agha of the girls. He was the chief of the black eunuchs, who came to the palace as enslaved boys, most of them from East Africa, and he ran the sultan's harem.

From the late 16th century he also administered the pious endowments that supported Mecca and Medina, the holy cities of Islam. Those funds made his office one of the richest at court, and his post in the harem gave him daily access to the sultan and the sultan's mother.

The figure is a type, standing full length by a door. For most of the years this workshop was active, the real office had one holder, Beşir Agha, chief black eunuch from 1717 until his death in 1746.