Femme Persienne, plate 91 from "Recueil de cent estampes représentent differentes nations du Levant"

Art Historical Context

This striking print, titled *Femme Persienne*, forms plate 91 of the 1714–15 publication *Recueil de cent estampes représentant différentes nations du Levant*. The volume offered European audiences one of the earliest systematic visual surveys of peoples from the Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions. Created through a collaboration between diplomat-publisher Jacques le Hay, Flemish artist Jean Baptiste Vanmour—who spent years in Constantinople—and engraver Gérard Jean Baptiste Scotin I, the series translated Vanmour’s on-site observations into widely circulated images. Rendered in etching and engraving, the work combines the fluid lines of etching with the precise detail of engraving, a technique well suited to capturing the textures of silk garments, jewelry, and architectural settings. The portrait presents a Persian woman in elaborate costume, emphasizing both individuality and cultural specificity at a time when European interest in Eastern dress and customs was rapidly growing. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this print exemplifies early eighteenth-century cross-cultural documentation. It invites viewers to consider how art served as both record and interpretation of distant societies, bridging distant worlds through meticulous craftsmanship.

About the Artist

Jacques le Hay|Jean Baptiste Vanmour|Gérard Jean Baptiste Scotin I (French| ) · 1671 |1650 –1737 |1750

French, Valenciennes 1671–1737 Istanbul (Constantinople)|