Portrait of a young Ottoman, half-length, possibly Sultan Osman II (1604–1622), in armour, holding a sceptre, beside a turban,
oil on panel, 111.3 x 88.2 cm, framed

Provenance:
art market, USA;
Private European collection

It has been suggested that the present work can be compared to state portraits by the Habsburg court painter, Jeremias Günther, such as the 1613 portrait of Empress Anna (see T. DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague, Painting in the Court of Rudolf II, London 1988, p. 178).

Günther was most probably a pupil or a close associate of Joseph Heintz the Elder (1564–1609). From 1604 until the death of Rudolf II in 1612, he was Kammermaler at the Prague court; later that same year, he began serving the Emperor Matthias who had called him to Vienna. As official portraitist of the Habsburg monarch, he was permitted to accompany the emperor to the Reichstag in Regensburg in 1613, where he painted portraits of those in attendance. In addition to his position as painter and restorer, Jeremias Günther also designed clothes for Emperor Matthias and possibly advised on the purchase of artworks for the imperial collections (see T. DaCosta Kaufmann, Ibid., 1988, p.178).

The sitter in the present painting wears ornamental armour over an embroidered white tunic, set with precious stones. The embroidery on the garment shows the Islamic crescent and sun symbols. In his right hand, the young Ottoman holds a golden sceptre with gemstones at the tip. His left hand is placed on the hilt of the sword. On the right, on a table covered with a green cloth, appears a large white turban topped by a red cone set with pearls. Similar regalia can be seen in the Portrait of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1495/96–1566) by Titian in Ambras Castle, Innsbruck (GG inv. no. 2429).

Imperial regalia such as crowns, sceptres, orbs or golden chains were not part of the Ottoman tradition of sovereignty before Suleiman I ascended the throne in 1520 (see G. Necipoğlu, Süleyman the Magnificent and the Representation of Power in the Context of Ottoman-Hapsburg[sic]-Papal Rivalry, in: The Art Bulletin, September 1989, vol. 71, no. 3, p. 407). In order to compete with the appearance of Western monarchs, mainly with that of the Habsburgs, Suleiman commissioned impressive and precious symbolic items, including painted portraiture and the works of Venetian goldsmiths (see op. cit. G. Necipoğlu, 1989, p. 425). While the Sultan was depicted wearing Western regalia in paintings intended to disseminate his image in European courts, he was shown in traditional Ottoman attire in works in the Islamic context (see for example ^cArifi, Süleymānnāme [Book of Süleyman], Istanbul, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi, ms H. 1517, fol. 337r).

Amongst the documented works by Jeremias Günther is an ‘Item des jezigen Turgischen Kaisers contrafet von oelfarb klein copier, 7 gulden’ (a small copy of a portrait of the current Turkish Emperor) for Emperor Matthias (see T. DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague, Painting in the Court of Rudolf II, London 1988, p. 179). It is likely that Günther had access to the aforementioned Titian portrait in the Imperial collections.