The photograph here shows a group of concubines standing behind their protectors (usually Eunuchs). Concubinage is the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing, quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status. Typically, the man has an official wife in addition to one or more concubines.
Concubines have limited rights of support from the man, and their offspring are publicly acknowledged as the man’s children, albeit of lower status than children born by the official wife or wives.
Historically, concubinage was frequently voluntary (by the girl and/or her family’s arrangement), as it provided a measure of economic security for the woman involved.
Involuntary, or servile, concubinage sometimes involves sexual slavery of one member of the relationship, typically the woman.
Concubines have limited rights of support from the man, and their offspring are publicly acknowledged as the man’s children, albeit of lower status than children born by the official wife or wives.
Historically, concubinage was frequently voluntary (by the girl and/or her family’s arrangement), as it provided a measure of economic security for the woman involved.
Involuntary, or servile, concubinage sometimes involves sexual slavery of one member of the relationship, typically the woman.