Author

FERRIOL, Charles de, Marquis and LE HAY.

Title

Recueil de cent estampes representant differentes nations du Levant,
gravees sur les tableaux peints d'apres nature en 1707 & 1708. [bound with:] Explication de cent estampes qui representent differentes nations du Levant avec de nouvelles estampes de ceremonies Turques qui ont aussi leurs explications.

Published, Date

[Le Hay], Colombat , Paris,1714-15.

Description

Folio, engraved title illuminated with gold, [4] preface, title-page, 26 pp. of engraved descriptive text, engraved sheet of music at rear, 102 original contemporary hand-coloured plates after Van Mour (the last 3 double-page). Contemporary calf gilt, rebacked and restored.

Note

This important work forms the "basic prototype for Levantine costume plates" (Atabey). The most luxurious edition of this book, with hand-coloured plates heightened with gold and mica. In addition to the sixty or so plates depicting Turkish Court, noble, military and other costume, the work illustrates the regional, religious or national costume of several other parts of the Turkish Empire. These include Greeks (10); Albanians (2); Jews (3); Hungarians (2); Wallachians (3); Bulgarians (2); Crimean Tartars (1); Armenians (5); Persians (2); Indians (2); Arabs (1); Barbary Coast (4); and Moors (1). The plates for this work were commissioned by Charles de Ferriol (1652-1722), the French ambassador to the Porte between 1699 and 1709. The plates were engraved after drawings by the Flemish artist J.B. van Mour, who lived and worked in Constantinople for many years during the first part of the eighteenth century. It has been suggested that van Mour came to Constantinople with the entourage of Ferriol in 1699. When the paintings were complete, Ferriol helped Le Hay to publish the present prints of the pictures. Le Hay's work was an instant success and the plates quickly became the principal source of turqueries for artists and publishers throughout Europe. In recognition of van Mour's talents, he was granted the unique post of 'Peintre ordinaire du Roi en Levant' in 1725. Van Mour's paintings (and the plates that derive from them) show Constantinople as a cosmopolitan place with Muslims and non-Muslims uniting in shared 'Ottoman' pleasures. Armenians, Franks, Greeks and Persians are shown drinking coffee, playing mankeh (a version of backgammon), or making music.

References

Atabey 429; Blackmer 591; Cohen de Ricci 619; Colas 1819; Lipperheide 413.

Stock Number

83814