Syrian Portrait, Traditions - Sunday, October 7, 2007 9:43 - 7 Comments

A Syrian Christian Family Portrait – Circa 1620 A.D.

The below folio is from a manuscript at the Casanatense Library in Italy. It is called the ‘Portuguese Codice’ and is from a collection of manuscripts donated by Cardinal Casanata ( 1620 A.D. -1698 A.D.) to an Italian Public library which was to be run by Dominican monks.
The codice is composed of 76 folios, containing as many aquarelles, with images of various people the author found in Asia and also Africa. In Asia, only Japan is not represented, which suggests that this Album most probably dates from the XVI century. The legends, in lettering of such period, were in all probability inserted by the author.

The author whose name is lost to us seems to have roamed the length and breadth of Portuguese territories in India and the Middle East. Though he does not impress us as a painter, his work is still an excellent primary source of understanding various facets of that period namely cultures, clothing, flora and fauna, weaponry, etc.

Folio LXIV (64) is of particular interest to us as the narration on it which is in old Portuguese reads – ‘Malabar Christians, developed by the well ventured Saint Thomas’. The leaf on examination shows a man and a woman, in all probability a couple, standing standing in a field of flowers, the lady holding a flower in her hand with a Cross in the foreground.

Now, let us study each of the elements of this portrait and see how we could relate them to contemporary Syrian Christian society and tradition. The flower garden chosen as the background goes in hand with contemporary portraits of that era common to both the West and the Orient. Compare this with many Mughal and Rajasthani Miniatures of that era. The theme is similar – (Courting) Couple in a garden. Continue…