Mechti Kuli Beg, Persian Ambassador to Prague

Aegidius Sadeler II

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In fall 1603, soon after an embassy from Rudolf II had requested support in his struggle against the Ottomans in Hungary, Shah Abbas of Persia launched an attack against the eastern borders of the Ottoman Empire. In order to maintain close diplomatic relations with the Holy Roman Emperor during this long campaign, the shah dispatched to Prague an ambassador, who posed, holding his pet falcon, for this portrait by Rudolf's court engraver. Sadeler must have been intrigued by Persian script, though he had some difficulty engraving the inscription that identifies the sitter as an envoy of Shah Abbas. The calligraphic cluster at the left, representing the ambassador's name, could have been copied from his signet ring.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art