Mehmed The Hunter’s Imperial Procession

Paintings commissioned by the 17th century Swedish Ambassador Claes Rålamb

Sultan Mehmed IV, remembered as “Mehmed the Hunter” because of his passion for hunting, departed for Edirne in 1657 on a hunting expedition with a large entourage in a display of imperial majesty that has been preserved for history as a visual document in the form of a series of oil paintings commissioned by Claes Rålamb, then the Swedish Ambassador to Istanbul.  This almost cinematographic record consisting of a total of twenty paintings is preserved at the Nordiska Museet in Sweden. Sixteen of which returned to Istanbul, as the guests of the Pera Museum, nearly three hundred and fifty years after this event.

A sultan who is keen on hunting, an art-loving ambassador, an anonymous painter and the Ottomans marching quietly from table to table in 17th century clothes... Mehmed The Hunter’s Imperial Procession exhibition catalogue is open to versatile readings, both artistic and historical. Karin Ådahl, Cemal Kafadar and Nurhan Atasoy’s articles about the Ottoman Empire during the Rålamb period are also included in the exhibition catalogue.

Date of Publication: 2006
Number of pages: 
91
ISBN:
975-9123-16-9

 

7 Foreword
Suna & İnan Kıraç

9 Preface
Karin Ådahl

11 The Claes Rålamb embassy from the Swedish King Carl X Gustaf to Mehmed IV in  1657-1658
Karin Ådahl

19 The Ottoman Empire at the time of theRålamb embassy
Cemal Kafadar

27 The Departure to Edirne: Rålamb’s twenty paintings of the Sultan’s Procession
Karin Ådahl

41 Processions amd Protocol in Ottoman İstanbul
Nurhan Atasoy

52 Imperial Procession in Rålamb’s Diary

57 Catalogue 

Mehmed The Hunter’s Imperial Procession

Sultan Mehmed IV, remembered as Mehmed the Hunter owing to his passion for hunting, departed for Edirne, in 1657 on a hunting expedition. 

Mehmed The Hunter’s Imperial Procession