Ceremony, Material Culture and Science
Gift-Giving in the Early Modern Ottoman-Dutch World
This project investigates the material practices of gift-giving in the early modern Ottoman-Dutch world and explores the role of diplomatic gifts in scientific knowledge production.
About the project
The Rijksmuseum houses an extraordinary collection of Jean Baptiste Vanmour’s paintings depicting people, ceremonies and rituals in the Ottoman Empire in the early 18th century. This project centres on the Vanmour collection and investigates the cultures of the practices of diplomacy and local traditions, examining the materiality of objects exchanged between the Dutch and the Ottomans. What new knowledge can be gained from the exploration of the material culture of diplomatic ceremonies? In what ways did the gifts exchanged between Dutch ambassadors and Ottomans spark new scientific practices?
Aim of the project
This project aims to unveil the captivating material world surrounding gift-giving between the Dutch and the Ottomans in the 17th and 18th centuries. This exploration is contributing to a new material history in which science intertwines with ceremony, revealing the intricate relationship between material culture and the production of knowledge. It also aims to shed further light on the history of early modern science by uncovering the story of the objects Dutch ambassadors presented to the Ottomans.
Researchers
Isin Taylan
i.taylan.cakmak@rijksmuseum.nl
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
Eveline Sint Nicolaas
e.sintnicolaas@rijksmuseum.nl
Senior conservator Geschiedenis