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Lot Essay
These two interior scenes depict different moments in the presentation ceremony of a foreign ambassador to the Ottoman court. The Ottoman court was a culture steeped in tradition and ceremony and its sanctum was restricted to most foreigners except those on official business. As a result, events such as these were often meticulously recorded by the artists who accompanied the visiting dignitaries' retinue.
The two scenes depict the presentation of the Count de Vergennes, Louis XV’s ambassador in 1755, to the court of Sultan 'Uthman III, who had acceded the throne in the previous year. In the first scene we see him received by the Grand Vizier, Reis Effendi. In this scene Vergennes is depicted wearing western dress. Standing between the Ambassador and the Grand Vizier and wearing a dark hat is the dragoman who acted as a translator between the European and Turkish officials. Surrounding them are Janissaries, members of an elite corps of Ottoman infantry, and the rest of the European delegation. This audience took place before the ambassador met the Sultan and could involve the presentation of gifts which would be displayed beforehand to the court.
The second painting depicts the Count de Vergenne’s meeting with Sultan 'Uthman III in the Throne Room of the Topkapi Palace. Here he has abandoned his western garb for an Ottoman kaftan – made of the type of silk brocade, a fragment of which is offered in this sale, lot 147. Reis Effendi, wearing a distinct conical hat which marks his rank, is depicted next to the Sultan. The Sultan sits on a broad canopied throne, beside which in a niche his turbans with jewelled aigrettes are displayed. After the gifts are inspected, the ambassador bows to the Sultan, makes a speech and presents his letter of credentials. The artist has depicted the moment where the ambassador's speech is being translated by the dragoman. The dragoman was also responsible for passing the ambassador's letter to the Sultan who would place it in his writing box, seen on his left. The artist precisely depicts all the ceremonial roles and accessories.
Pictures of presentation ceremonies hold a particular place in European and Ottoman art. Often executed by European artists who were brought to Constantinople as part of an ambassador's retinue, they display an amalgam of Western and Eastern influences. More than a depiction of the exotic customs of a foreign country, these images were also meant to demonstrate the stature of the European dignitary through his access to the innermost sanctum of the Ottoman court. The consistency of these images is due not only to the endurance of the ceremonial tradition which changed very little over the course of five centuries, but also to a visual formula established by Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (1671-1737), a Flemish artist who spent nearly thirty years working in Constantinople recording the ceremonies of the Ottoman court as well as day to day life in the Ottoman world. He influenced a generation of European artists who worked in Constantinople producing images such as these for ambassadors and high-ranking dignitaries to display as a sign of their prominence.
These scenes derive from two engraved compositions generally attributed to Antoine de Favray (Bagnolet 1706-1791 Malta) who spent the years between 1762 and 1771 living in Constantinople. In this time he produced images of the similar scenes, often changing only the personalities. There is a closely related composition by the artist depicting the ambassador Saint-Priest, Vergenne’s successor, illustrated in Auguste Boppe, Les Orientalistes, Les Peintres du Bosphore au XVIIIe Siècle, 1989, p.115. Vergenne’s presentation was obviously a popular and much copied subject. Two paintings of precisely the same composition were sold by Sotheby’s (Turkish Sale, 11 October 1996, lot 232) and are published in Olga Nefedova, A Journey into the World of the Ottomans. The Art of Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (1671-1737), Milan, 2009, pp. 172-173, nos.156 and 157.
The two scenes depict the presentation of the Count de Vergennes, Louis XV’s ambassador in 1755, to the court of Sultan 'Uthman III, who had acceded the throne in the previous year. In the first scene we see him received by the Grand Vizier, Reis Effendi. In this scene Vergennes is depicted wearing western dress. Standing between the Ambassador and the Grand Vizier and wearing a dark hat is the dragoman who acted as a translator between the European and Turkish officials. Surrounding them are Janissaries, members of an elite corps of Ottoman infantry, and the rest of the European delegation. This audience took place before the ambassador met the Sultan and could involve the presentation of gifts which would be displayed beforehand to the court.
The second painting depicts the Count de Vergenne’s meeting with Sultan 'Uthman III in the Throne Room of the Topkapi Palace. Here he has abandoned his western garb for an Ottoman kaftan – made of the type of silk brocade, a fragment of which is offered in this sale, lot 147. Reis Effendi, wearing a distinct conical hat which marks his rank, is depicted next to the Sultan. The Sultan sits on a broad canopied throne, beside which in a niche his turbans with jewelled aigrettes are displayed. After the gifts are inspected, the ambassador bows to the Sultan, makes a speech and presents his letter of credentials. The artist has depicted the moment where the ambassador's speech is being translated by the dragoman. The dragoman was also responsible for passing the ambassador's letter to the Sultan who would place it in his writing box, seen on his left. The artist precisely depicts all the ceremonial roles and accessories.
Pictures of presentation ceremonies hold a particular place in European and Ottoman art. Often executed by European artists who were brought to Constantinople as part of an ambassador's retinue, they display an amalgam of Western and Eastern influences. More than a depiction of the exotic customs of a foreign country, these images were also meant to demonstrate the stature of the European dignitary through his access to the innermost sanctum of the Ottoman court. The consistency of these images is due not only to the endurance of the ceremonial tradition which changed very little over the course of five centuries, but also to a visual formula established by Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (1671-1737), a Flemish artist who spent nearly thirty years working in Constantinople recording the ceremonies of the Ottoman court as well as day to day life in the Ottoman world. He influenced a generation of European artists who worked in Constantinople producing images such as these for ambassadors and high-ranking dignitaries to display as a sign of their prominence.
These scenes derive from two engraved compositions generally attributed to Antoine de Favray (Bagnolet 1706-1791 Malta) who spent the years between 1762 and 1771 living in Constantinople. In this time he produced images of the similar scenes, often changing only the personalities. There is a closely related composition by the artist depicting the ambassador Saint-Priest, Vergenne’s successor, illustrated in Auguste Boppe, Les Orientalistes, Les Peintres du Bosphore au XVIIIe Siècle, 1989, p.115. Vergenne’s presentation was obviously a popular and much copied subject. Two paintings of precisely the same composition were sold by Sotheby’s (Turkish Sale, 11 October 1996, lot 232) and are published in Olga Nefedova, A Journey into the World of the Ottomans. The Art of Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (1671-1737), Milan, 2009, pp. 172-173, nos.156 and 157.