The Sultana-Mother

The Sultana-Mother is an oil-on-canvas portrait by Jean Baptiste Vanmour, dated 1718 and produced in Istanbul. According to documented ownership records, the painting was held by Cornelis Calkoen and later by Nicolaas Calkoen, both named as former owners. The work subsequently entered the collections of the Directie van de Levantse handel en de Navigatie op de Middellandse Zee and the Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden, before passing to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst. It is now held in the Rijksmuseum, where it remains part of the collection.

The Sultana-Mother is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The work, an oil painting on canvas created in 1718 by Jean Baptiste Vanmour, is associated with the museum's historical holdings of the Directie van de Levantse handel en de Navigatie op de Middellandse Zee, the Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden, and the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst. The painting was previously owned by Cornelis Calkoen and Nicolaas Calkoen before entering the museum's custody. Specific inventory or accession numbers are not provided in the available records.

The painting's legacy is anchored in its presence within the Rijksmuseum collection, where it is recognized as a representative example of 18th‑century portraiture. Its subject, depicted as a woman, has contributed to scholarly discussions of Ottoman‑European cultural exchange, influencing interpretations of gender and status in that context. The work continues to be cited in studies of Vanmour's output and in exhibitions examining Levantine trade connections.

Jean Baptiste Van Mour, a Flemish‑French artist active in the early 1700s, painted The Sultana‑Mother in 1718. Executed in oil, the work portrays a high‑ranking Ottoman woman within an interior setting, her gesture directed toward a window that reveals a bleak, cloud‑filled sky. The composition combines vivid costume detail with a stark, shadowed backdrop, creating a striking visual contrast.

Van Mour’s oeuvre is noted for meticulous records of Ottoman customs, clothing, and architecture, produced for European patrons intrigued by the empire’s exoticism. This work exemplifies his approach of combining documentary observation with artistic conventions of his native Rococo tradition, offering a European perspective on Istanbul’s elite society.