A portrait of Sultan Musa Celebi, circle of Veronese, Italy, circa 1580

Musa Celebi (r.1411-13), also known as Musa the Younger, was a key figure during the Ottoman Interregnum, a period of internal strife following Sultan Murad I's death in 1389. As the son of Sultan Bayezid I, he contended for the throne against his brothers and other rivals. Musa briefly ascended to power in 1410 after defeating his brother Mehmed I but was soon overthrown and executed in 1413 following Mehmed I's victory at the Battle of Karaburun.

The present portrait of Musa Celebi, depicted in three-quarter view wearing a large turban and richly embroidered vest, was directly influenced by a painting of Musa Celebi from a complete group of fourteen paintings commissioned by Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha in 1579, now in the Collection Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich (inv. no.2238). The Munich painting was exhibited at the Topkapi Palace, The Sultan’s Portrait: Picturing the House of Osman, Istanbul, 6 June-6 Sept 2000 and is pictured in the exhibition catalogue (no.40.6), Isbank, 2000.

Upon hearing rumours that painted portraits of Ottoman sultans were kept in Venice, the Grand Vizier requested the Venetian ambassador in Istanbul, Niccolò Barbarigo, to order and deliver duplicates in June 1578. In these years, Veronese served as the State's official painter. Although the portraits are not attributed to his hand, they bear obvious characteristics of his style - from the dynamic poses to the luminous garments, and more particularly in the vitality of the sitters' facial features.

Another painting from this series, a portrait of Sultan Bayezid, sold in these rooms, 19 October 2016, lot 294, and is now housed in the Islamic Arts Museum, Malaysia. It was exhibited in Inspired by the east: how the Islamic world influenced western art, at the British Museum, 10 October 2019-26 Jan 2020.