{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O139223"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O139223/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT6762/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT6762/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BT6762","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BT6763","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BT6761","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BT6392","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BT6373","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BT6370","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BT6358","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O139223/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O139223","accessionNumber":"ME.1:1, 2-2007","objectType":"Miniature","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This portrait shows Kabuli Mehmed Pasha (1812-1876), a high-ranking official of the Ottoman empire. In 1850, when the portrait was painted, Kabuli was an attaché at the Ottoman embassy in London. During his stay in the city, he met and courted Giulietta Anichini, a young Italian woman. Kabuli presented her with this portrait, which he inscribed modestly in French as, <i>Plus heureux que l'original</i>, \"More pleasing than the original\". Kabuli's suit was unsuccessful, for in 1853 Giulietta wrote to tell him that she had married a fellow Italian, Alfonso Scalia.\r\n\r\nKabuli wears a European-style uniform, with an order at his neck, and on his head is a red felt fez. The combination of uniform and fez became the standard formal dress for Ottoman officials under Sultan Mahmud II (ruled 1809-1839). At the same time, it became the custom for court artists to paint miniature portraits of the ruler for distribution as gifts. This is a rare example of a miniature portrait by a court painter of one of the sultan's subjects.\r\n\r\nThe painter of this miniature signs himself in Ottoman Turkish as Rupe. He can be identified with Rupen Manas, a member of an Armenian family of painters who enjoyed the patronage of Mahmud II's son, Sultan Abdülmecid (ruled 1839-1861).","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Rupen Manas","id":"A20117"},"association":{"text":"painted by","id":"x28695"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2008BT6762","2008BT6763","2008BT6761","2008BT6392","2008BT6373","2008BT6370","2008BT6358"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"42","id":"THES49806"},"free":"","case":"8E","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES394798"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature","id":""}],[{"text":"case","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Turkey","id":"x29225"},"association":{"text":"produced","id":"x30771"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Istanbul","id":"x33871"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Depth","value":"2.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"19/09/25","earliest":"2025-09-19","latest":"2025-09-19"},"part":"2","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"21.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"19/09/25","earliest":"2025-09-19","latest":"2025-09-19"},"part":"2","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"19","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"19/09/25","earliest":"2025-09-19","latest":"2025-09-19"},"part":"2","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The object is accompanied by a letter from Kabuli Pasha to Giulietta Anichini, dated February 1853, now on file in RF 2007/715.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Miniature, 'Portrait of Kabuli Mehmed Pasha' by Rupen Manas, Ottoman, 1850, watercolour on ivory in a gilt-metal frame, with wooden travelling case bound in morocco leather","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Whitaker, Tina. <i>Sicily & England: Political and Social Reminiscences, 1848-1870</i>. London: Constable, 1907."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Günsel Renda, “Portraits: The last century”, in <i>The Sultan’s Portrait: Picturing the House of Osman</i>, Istanbul, 2000, pp. 442–543."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Garo Kürkman, <i>Armenian Painters in the Ottoman Empire, 1600–1923</i>, Istanbul, 2004, volume II, pp. 587–8. "}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Jameel Gallery\r\n\r\n3 Miniature Portrait of Kabuli Mehmed Pasha\r\nTurkey\r\nAbout 1850\r\n\r\nThis portrait is of a high-ranking Ottoman official, Kabuli Mehmed Pasha (1812–76). It is a rare example of a court painter making a miniature portrait of one of the sultan's subjects.\r\n\r\nWhen the portrait was painted, Kabuli was an attaché at the Ottoman embassy in London. He gave the portrait to a woman he admired. On the reverse he inscribed in French a modest message which translates as, ‘More pleasing than the original’. \r\n\r\n\r\nWatercolour on ivory in a gilded-metal frame\r\nBy Rupen Manas\r\n\r\nMuseum no. ME.1:1&amp;2-2007\r\n","date":{"text":"22/08/2012","earliest":"2012-08-22","latest":"2012-08-22"}}],"partNumbers":["ME.1:1-2007","ME.1:2-2007"],"accessionNumberNum":"1","accessionNumberPrefix":"ME","accessionYear":2007,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","miniature","case"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-24","recordCreationDate":"2007-09-13","availableToBook":false}}