Really nice article. i wonder why they were coloured so dark by the painter. and the lady’s facial features are more negroid than anything else. and doesnt the dress also has a resemble to that worn by muslim mappila women in Kerala? the colours certainly match…

I hear that kerala churches of that time had a place to keep sword of faithful.

The picture also shows a good artistic presentation of pepper plant which is a perennial woody vine growing to four metres in height on supporting trees or trellises.

It is a spreading vine, rooting readily where trailing stems touch the ground. The leaves are alternate, entire and The flowers are small.

Black pepper is native to Malabar Coast and is extensively cultivated there. Only by 16th century it started getting cultivated in other places like Java, Sumatra.

The picture shows the dark red fruit of Malabar pepper, known as a peppercorn when dried. Peppercorn is a small drupe five millimetres in diameter and are dark red when its fully mature.

Black peppercorns were found lodged in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BC. It could have reached Egypt only from Malabar Coast.

I don’t see any articles here on Black pepper. Even there is a legal contract term called peppercorn rent in Europe which clearly shows the value of pepper.

Thanks again for this beautiful reminiscence.

Jerry,

I guess its not dark as in black.Compare the colour used for Pepper leaves and face.
The lady doesnot look negroid.Isnt she beautiful ?

NJ, seen from that light i have to agree

This clearly shows that the family theme has inspired many artists over the years. Many of the oldest family portraits available in Europe and US are from 18th / 19th centuries.

Look at the year of the Syrian Christian Family Portrait- 1620 AD

Long ago, before there were cameras, some people (those who could afford to) commissioned artists to paint portraits of their families.

This shows the social privilege they enjoyed long time back.

Thanks Olikara for the elaborate commentary at the different ways this artist approached a Syrian Christian family.

Other than Portuguese Codice, what are the other collections available in Vatican library about Nasranis. Just curious.

Beautiful. The dress looks very similar to chatta.

Wow ! Enlightening presentation. Portuguese Codice might be just one of those hundreds documents we have not come across so far. Expecting more of these in future both from European as well as Syriac sources. Thanks