Vintage photograph of a reception given in Dammam by Emir Abdullah bin Jiwuli Al Saud.

Dammam, Saudi Arabia: Peter Holdstock,, 1952. Ibn Saud confers with the hakim of Bahrain Intimate portrait of King Ibn Saud and Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain, captured possibly at the Dammam Conference of 1952, at which Britain and Saudi Arabia discussed boundaries between the Kingdom and the British-protected states of the Gulf. Their host, Emir Abdullah bin Jiwuli Al Saud, was Saudi governor of the Eastern Province (1938-67), where Dammam is located. At Dammam, Ibn Saud successfully extended his boundaries beyond the "blue line" established by the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, which had defined the limits of Ottoman jurisdiction in the area of the Persian Gulf with respect to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the Shatt al-Arab. The Saudi monarch is pictured here with Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa (1894-1961, Hakim of Bahrain 1942-61), whose enlightened rule ensured important reforms in health, sanitation, and education. Their host, Emir Abdullah bin Jiwuli Al Saud was a paternal cousin of Ibn Saud and a "powerful and long-time ruler of the Eastern Province" (Chatty, p. 376). This image was captured by Peter Holdstock and reproduced as the opening image in his book Local Color. We have been unable to find much background on Holdstock, beyond that he was a Bapco employee in the Awali in the 1940s and was a pretty good golfer, winner of the company's Kingsbury Cup in both 1940 and 1941 and the Russell Cup for 1941. His book, Local Color, which features some fine portraits and views of the region, was self-published in Bahrain in around 1954. Silver print photograph (98 x 127 mm); verso wet stamped with inventory number "629". Minor creasing at top left otherwise in excellent condition. Dawn Chatty, ed., Nomadic Societies in the Middle East and North Africa: Entering the 21st Century, 2006.