- 116
Studio of Jean-Baptiste van Mour Valenciennes 1671 - 1737 Constantinople
Description
- Jean-Baptiste van Mour
- L'Tbriktar-Agassi, officer in waiting to the Sultan;The Princess of Valaquie;A young Turk;The Grand Vizier in ceremonial robes;A Turkish girl dressing her hair at the baths;Tchelebi;A young woman of Patmos;An Armenian from Persia.
- the former inscribed on the recto: Grand / Visir; and all inscribed with inventory numbers on the reverse: 3; 18; 27; 56; 63, 82; 83; 91
- a set of eight, all oil on copper
Literature
Jaques Le Hay, Recueil de cent estampes representant differentes nations du Levant / gravées [by G.Scotin, Snr and others] sur les tableaus peint d’après nature [by Van Mour] en 1707 et 1708 par les orders de M. Ferriol Ambassador du Roi à la Porte et mis au jour 1712 & 1713 par les Soins de M. Le Hay, Paris 1714.
Catalogue Note
Vanmour arrived in Istanbul in 1699 in the suite of the French ambassador, the Marquis Charles de Ferriol (1652-1718). He would remain in the city until his death thirty-eight years later. His work, both for Ferriol and for the Dutch ambassador Cornelis Calkoen (1696-1764) provides a remarkable survey of the court of the Sultan Ahmad III (1703-1730).
The present set of pictures reflect a probable commission from De Ferriol around 1706-07 to represent a spectrum of court dignataries and social types from across the Ottoman empire. These were published upon the ambassador's return to France under the title 'Recueil de cent estampes representant differentes nations du Levant....' (see below).
The present set of pictures may be compared with four similar sets of nine, all on canvas but of the same dimensions (33 by 25 cm.) which were sold New York, Christie's, 26th January 2005, lots 72 and 73, as 'Jean-Baptiste Vanmour and followers'.