Gentile Bellini - Seated Scribe, 1479-1481

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This vertical, miniature ink and watercolor painting shows a young, light-skinned man bent over a writing pad on a cream background. The scribe’s face is shown in profile, looking intently down to our right. On his head is an elaborately folded white turban held in place at the top by a ribbed red taj, or conical cap. A bit of curly brown hair peaks out from his turban and there is a gold hoop earring in his right ear. The scribe’s features include brown eyebrows, eyes, and eyelashes, a straight nose, and pale red lips. He holds a pen and is posed to write with his right hand. He wears a navy caftan woven with gold with a purple lining, shown in the folded-back collar. A red silk garment appears around his forearms. A spray of reddish flowers with green leaves and stems appears behind the scribe’s head, on the upper side of the paper to your left. In the upper portion of the paper to your right is a vertical panel with a red background and white elongated shape in the center. Persian lettering in gold reads “The work of ibin-i mu’ azzin, who is among the well-known masters of Europe”. The back of the piece is filled with black Persian writing. Two small panels, one blue and one black with gold floral vines, sit in the upper left and center of the paper.

Gentile Bellini (Venice, about 1429 - 1507, Venice)

Seated Scribe, 1479-1481

Pen in brown ink with watercolor and gold on paper, 18.2 x 14 x 2.6 cm (7 3/16 x 5 1/2 x 1 in.)

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Commentary

Gentile Bellini served as state painter to the Republic of Venice. In 1479, they sent him to Mehmet II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Bellini drew several individuals he encountered in Constantinople, but only this sheet is finished with color and gold, suggesting that it may have been intended for the sultan himself.Gardner purchased this rare work in 1907 with the help of artist Anders Zorn, leaving her usual art advisor Bernard Berenson seething with envy. Proud of the purchase, Gardner later collected the publications which documented the drawing’s discovery by Swedish collector, scholar, and dealer Fredrik R. Martin in Constantinople around 1905.