Description:

Lot 61. A Large Portrait of an Ottoman Sultan, Oil on Canvas, 17th Century

This finely painted portrait of an Ottoman Sultan, likely Mehmed IV, captures the distinctive elegance of 17th-century European depictions of Ottoman rulers. Rendered in oil on canvas and enclosed in a richly carved giltwood frame, the composition presents the Sultan in profile, adorned in an elaborately embroidered green kaftan with gold threadwork and a grand white turban. His poised hand gesture and upward gaze convey authority tempered by restraint, qualities celebrated in Ottoman court portraiture yet interpreted here through a European lens.

An inscription in Gothic script, “Ein Türcker Soldahn(t)” (“A Turkish soldier”), identifies the sitter and situates the work within the context of Central European fascination with the Ottoman world. Such portraits, often produced in regions like Austria, Poland, or Hungary, reflected the complex diplomatic and military interactions between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire. The refined modeling of the face, warm tonal palette, and emphasis on textile detail reveal a painter attuned to both realism and exoticism.

Formerly housed in a Polish castle once owned by King John III Sobieski, the hero of the second siege of Vienna, this painting stands as a compelling relic of cross-cultural perception. It embodies how European artists reimagined the power and mystique of the Ottoman elite, blending curiosity, reverence, and historical memory into a single dignified portrayal.



Provenance: acquired from a Polish castle formerly owned by John Sobieski, Former King of Poland, the hero of the second siege of Vienna.

 It could be the portrait of one of the viziers who fought during the first siege of Vienna in 1529.

Length x Width: 102.5 x 68cm

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November 4, 2025 1:00 PM GMT
London, United Kingdom

PLAKAS

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