TWO PORTRAITS OF DIPLOMATS: SIR ANTHONY SHIRLEY AND HOSSEIN ALI BEG BAYAT
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ENGLISH BIBLIOPHILE
Attributable to Dominicus Custos (engraver, 1559 - 1615), Augsburg, Germany, circa 1600 - 1604

Comprising an engraved portrait of Sir Anthony Shirley on paper, featuring the bust of the sitter set in an oval frame with the inscription 'ANTON SCHERLEYNS ANGL EQ AURAT MAG SOPH PERSAR AD CAESAREM LEGATUS', a further inscription reading 'ANTONI Orator Persae, Angliae, regis, ad istud Excelso mutius pervenis ingenio.' in the lower margin, 18.6cm x 13.4cm; and a similar bust portrait of Hossein Ali Beg, the oval frame inscribed 'CUCHEINOLLIBEAG MAGNI SOPHI PERSARUM REGIS LEGATIONS SOCIUS' with 'Straturus turcas bellis rex persa celebris, Caesar dive tuas hunc per adivit opels.', mounted on a white cardboard frame, 17.2cm x 12.7cm, 41.9cm x 29.9cm including the mount.

Provenance: Purchased from a German auction house in the 1990s.

Dominicus Custos was a Flemish-born engraver and one of the key figures in the town of Augsburg's legacy in the history of printmaking. His family included sculptors, painters, engravers, and publishers. Custos was trained as an apprentice in his father's workshop in Antwerp. Towards the late 16th century, he established his own renowned workshop in Augsburg, Germany, yielding generations of masterful engravers that would continue producing plates in his style for nearly two centuries.

This specific portrait of Sir Anthony Shirley, British adventurer and traveller, was an illustration to Custos' 'Atrium Heroicum Caesarum' - a portrait series published in four parts over the course of several years, from 1600 - 1604. Along with other engravings from this series, several portraits were published as standalone prints. The exact number of portraits included in the series is not confirmed, though it is generally thought to be 166 (as noted in Hollstein, German engravings, etchings and woodcuts c. 1400 - 1700, 1954, p. 58 and S. Canby, Shah 'Abbas: The Remaking of Iran, 2009, p. 257). To accomplish this magnum opus, Custos was joined by his step-son Lucas Kilian as an engraver, and by Marcus Henningus who contributed to the Latin verses. Impressions similar to ours are housed in the collections of prominent European museums such as the British Museum, London (acc. nos. 1873,0510.2866, 1873,0510.2865, Bb,13.241) and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. RP-P-1908-3839).