Portrait of Ismail, Ambassador of the Persian Shah Tahmasp I
1562
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate/sheet: 37 × 29.2 cm (14 5/8 × 11 1/2 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109038
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago resides a striking 16th-century engraving by Danish artist Melchior Lorck, titled *Portrait of Ismail, Ambassador of the Persian Shah Tahmasp I* (1562). Measuring 37 × 29.2 cm on ivory laid paper, this work captures the dignified likeness of Ismail, a key diplomat sent by Shah Tahmasp I of the Safavid Empire, whose reign (1524–1576) marked a golden age of Persian art and culture amid tensions with the Ottoman Empire. Lorck, a Renaissance traveler and skilled engraver who journeyed through the Ottoman Empire and Persia in th...