Ambassador Cornelis Calkoen in Audience with Sultan Ahmed III, 14 September 1727

Istanbul in 1727 was in the middle of a long peace. The empire had fought no war with its European neighbours since 1718, and the man steering that policy was the grand vizier, Nevşehirli İbrahim Pasha, husband of the sultan's daughter. He is the figure at the far left, turning to address the Dutch ambassador. Ahmed III sits on a gilded throne under a canopy hung with tassels, with four young princes beside him. The audience took place in the part of the palace where the sultan lived, a room lined with blue and white tiles and carpeted from wall to wall. Cornelis Calkoen, in a powdered wig and a red coat, stands at the front of his party making his speech. The painting stayed in Calkoen's family, and in 1817 his nephew Nicolaas left it to the Amsterdam board that oversaw Dutch trade with the Levant.