Attributable to Ottoman court painter Konstantin Kapidagli, - Lot 343

Attributable to Ottoman court painter Konstantin Kapidagli, active 1789-1806 Painted portrait of Selim III (r.1789-1808) Mounted on cardboard: 36.8 x 25.7 cm In a fine style frame: 44.5 x 33 cm Konstantin Kapidagli was one of the first Ottoman Greek painters active at court. He is best known for the series of portraits of Ottoman sultans that bears his name, executed at the very beginning of the 19th century and completed and set down in engravings by the engraver John Young in 1815. He was particularly active for Sultan Selim III, depicted here in a gray medallion. He is depicted here more realistically than in the classical tradition of miniature painting, in the same vein as the other well-known sultan portraits in the series that bears his name. Inscription in Greek around the medallion: "Sultan Selim Khan son of Sultan Mustapha Khan".