Add MS 5234

This album contains many drawings with inscriptions that include outdated terms. Where these inscriptions have been transcribed, the text is always in between inverted commas.

This is an album of drawings executed by G. Hofstede van Essen, Edward Browne and other draughtsmen. These are primarily topographical drawings, sketches of people and monuments seen by Edward Browne during his travels across Central and Eastern Europe and by G. Hofstede van Essen in Safavid Iran between 1693 and 1703. All drawings are executed on paper or parchment and pasted on the folios of the album.

The drawings by G. Hofstede van Essen (items 2-30 and 105-106) are executed in Indian ink and wash. Most of them are accompanied by red-bordered paper labels inscribed in English with a brief description of subject of the drawing. The text on these labels has been transcribed within inverted commas, along with any other inscriptions present on the drawings. In these inscriptions, word contractions have been expanded to improve clarity and capitalisation has been normalised. Where relevant, an indication of the corresponding modern place name has been included between square brackets. For another album of drawings from Sloane’s collection with similar labels used to describe the subject of the drawings, see Add MS 5253, Add MS 5255 and Add MS 5256.

Summary description of contents:

1. A coat of arms painted on parchment.

2-3. Foldout Indian ink and wash drawing on paper laid down on canvas showing a bird’s eye view of Persepolis [Takht-e Jamshid, present-day Iran].

4. ‘A column or Pillar of Persepolis’. Indian ink and wash drawing of a column with an elaborate capital.

5. ‘A Door in Persepolis in which is the Bassorilievo marked No. 3’. Indian ink and wash drawing signed at centre ‘G. Hofsted van Essen’.

6. ‘A Basso-relievo taken from Persepolis’. Indian ink and wash drawing of a bas-relief marked ‘3’ and signed ‘G. Hofsted van Essen fe.’ in the lower left margin.

7. ‘A Pleasure house of the Kings of Persia, at Shiras [Shiraz] with a very large Tanck and Cypress walks’. Indian ink and wash drawing signed ‘G. Hofsted van Essen’ at left centre and inscribed in pen and ink in Dutch at the top with a similar description of the subject of the drawing.

8. ‘The Great Mosque or Church at Ispahan in the Meidan or Market place’. Indian ink and wash drawing of the Mosque at Isfahan (Iran).

9. ‘The audience chamber of the Palace of the Kings of Persia at Ispahan’. India ink and wash drawing of the royal palace of Ālī Qāpū at Isfahan (Iran).

10-11. ‘The Bridge by Ispahan going to Shiras [Shiraz] where the Kings of Persia take the air’. Two Indian ink and wash drawings of men walking and on horseback nearby a bridge.

12. ‘Exercises of the Persians near the Bridge of Zulfa’ [Julfa, Iran]. Indian ink and wash drawing showing men playing a game on horseback.

13. ‘The curing of the colic by the Persians by treading on their bellies, and the hubble bubble or the instrument through which they smoke tobacco’. Indian ink and wash drawing inscribed in pen and ink in the upper right corner in Dutch ‘het geneesen van buick and ragge pynen der Persianischer Reysigers’.

14. Pen and ink and wash portrait of Synal Chaen, Persian ambassador at the court of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. The drawing is dated ‘MDCXXXIII’ (1633) at centre below the portrayed figure and accompanied by manuscript inscriptions in English and Latin all around the oval portrait and below it. The portrait is based on (although not an exact copy after) the portrait of Synal Chaen engraved by Aegidius Sadeler in 1604 (Rijksmuseum RP-P-OB-4995).

15. ‘The breaking of ground for making the King of Persia’s new Gardens near Zulfa’ [Julfa, Iran]. Indian ink and wash drawing of a group of men busy digging standing next to a tent.

16. ‘Baba Abdila’s Tomb where the Persians pretend that when one shakes one tower the other person in the other tower trembles. The place is 3 miles from Ispahan’. Indian ink and wash drawing inscribed at the top in pen and ink in French ‘Sepulchre du Prophete Persien Baba Abdila’. On the verso of the drawing, a description in French written by ‘Pater Fortunato’ in Ispahan [Isfahan] and inscribed with the date 1703. The description provides details on the tomb and the prophet ‘Baba Abdila’ [Baba ‘Abd Allah].

17. ‘Sultania. 1 and 2 are great Mosques the 1 is all ruind’. Indian ink and wash drawing of a view of Sultania [Soltaniyeh] with its mosques, indicated by numbers ‘1’ and ‘2’ inscribed next to the two buildings depicted in the drawing.

18. ‘A great sheck or holy place 2 miles from Ispahan’ [Isfahan]. Indian ink and wash drawing of a mountainous landscape.

19. ‘The burying places of the Kings of Persia’. Indian ink and wash drawing signed ‘G. Hofsted van Essen’ in the lower margin at centre and inscribed in pen and ink in the lower left margin ‘Tombea [sic] des Rois des Perses’.

20. ‘The burying places of the Kings of Persia’. Indian ink and wash drawing inscribed in pen and ink in the upper right margin ‘Les Tombeau des Rois des Perses’.

21. ‘Mount Ararat near Van __’. Indian ink and wash drawing of Mount Ararat (Turkey).

22. ‘The manner of threshing corn in Persia’. Indian ink and wash drawing signed ‘G. Hofsted van Essen’ in the lower margin at centre.

23. ‘Serburgh a Persian game, or playing at mall on horseback’. Indian ink and wash drawing showing men playing a game on horseback similar to modern-day Polo.

24. A group of men on horseback and on foot proceeding together across a mountainous landscape. Indian ink and wash drawing signed on the verso ‘G. Hofsted van Essen 1703’.

25. ‘The manner of a Persian caravan its travelling up down hills’. Indian ink and wash drawing.

26. ‘The same Caravan lying in their night quarters the guards being placed’. Indian ink and wash drawing.

27. ‘The way of an ambassador’s travelling in his litter’. India ink and wash drawing signed in lower right margin ‘G Hofsted van Essen’. 28. ‘Views of a Caravan passing over a bridge and in their quarters’. Another, but smaller, Indian ink and wash drawing of men on horseback nearby a bridge is on the verso.

29. ‘A view of a caravan near a Hill 3 or 4 days from Tauni whereon appear hills & co resembling the statue of a man’. Indian ink and wash drawing by G. Hofstede van Essen.

30. ‘A view of the goods of a caravan carry_ to be laid up all night’. Indian ink and wash drawing.

31. Ink and brown wash drawing of a bridge of boats between Buda and Pest [two neighbourhoods now joined into Budapest] on the river Danube, with manuscript notes by Edward Browne.

32. Ink and wash drawing of a colonnade with Corinthian capitals.

33-34. Red chalk sketch of the leaning Tower at Pisa, accompanied by a note in Thomas Browne’s hand, describing the tower’s history and construction.

35. Red chalk drawing of the Torre Garisenda in Bologna (Italy), by the same hand as item 33.

36. A note in Thomas Browne’s hand relating to his son’s Edward travels.

37. ‘A Gypsy woman in Turkey’. Pencil and watercolour drawing of a female figure, thus inscribed by Edward Browne in the upper margin at centre.

38. ‘A Croatian countreyman’. Pencil and watercolour drawing of a male figure, thus inscribed by Edward Browne in the upper margin at centre.

39-40. Two watercolour drawings of the north and south side of ‘Mount Luibel’ [the Ljubelj Pass, Slovenia] in the Alps connecting Carinthia [Kärnten, Austria] with Slovenia. Manuscript notes by Edward Browne in the lower portion of the sheets describe features of the landscape.

41. Watercolour drawing of an elaborate monument with a bas-relief of the Royal Arms of England on the plinth, and on the top, some letters fancifully interwoven. This is likely an early 18th century watercolour from an English or French mapmaker and stylistically related to coeval cartographic material. Above is an inscription in a counterfeited alphabet beginning with the words ‘ALTESSE EYGVCYRP’.

42. ‘Maeander Maesicus or the notable cranckling & winding river Liperizza in Servia’ [Serbia]. A pen and ink sketch of the course of a river in Serbia, thus inscribed in the upper left margin by Edward Browne.

43. Watercolour drawing of a terrestrial globe, surmounted by a stand, and interlaced capital letters of the Latin alphabet; around the margin of the arch framing the globe is an inscription in ink in a counterfeited alphabet, beginning with the words ‘SIRE osddgÿ. In the lower margin of the frame around the globe, another cartouche is inscribed with the motto ‘Honi soit qui mal y pence’ [sic]. This work is by the same hand as item 41.

44. ‘A Gypsye or Cingaro playing upon an instrument called Kimche or Kinchi’. Pen and ink and watercolour sketch of a male figure playing a musical instrument, thus inscribed by Edward Browne below the figure.

45. ‘A country maide of Hungaria’. Pencil sketch of a female figure, thus inscribed by Edward Browne in the upper margin at centre.

46-47. Two pencil and watercolour sketches of a crown decorated with ostrich eggs, suspended from the ceiling of Greek Orthodox churches, accompanied by inscriptions by Edward Browne all around the sketches.

48-54. ‘John Higgins, born at Wolsall, in Staffordshire, his several Postures’. Seven watercolours framed by a washline, showing a dancer performing.

55. Watercolour drawing of a gilded wooden bull in Nuremberg, accompanied by an inscription in the lower margin by Edward Browne describing the sculpture.

56. Grey wash drawing of the bucentaur, the Venetian vessel used by the Doge, accompanied by a note in Edward Browne’s hand in the upper margin describing the vessel.

57-61. Watercolour drawings of various boats, inscribed as being ‘jonk’ vessels [Chinese sailing ship called junk], all signed with the monogram ‘HG fecit’ in the right margin.

62. ‘A Java Proe’. Watercolour drawing of a ship inscribed at the top as and signed with the monogram ‘HG’ in the lower right margin. 63. Pen and ink sketch of the head of an albatross signed ‘H G fecit’ in the upper right corner and accompanied by a manuscript note in English below the sketch, describing the sight of albatrosses from the ship.

64. ‘Joseph his habit in Egypt, out of an old manuscript in the Emperor’s library’. Watercolour of a male figure.

65. ‘A Thessalian countreyman’. Pencil and watercolour sketch of a man thus inscribed by Edward Browne in the upper margin at centre.

66. ‘A fountain… in Scopia in the borders of Macedonia’ [Skopiá]. Pen and ink sketch of a fountain thus inscribed by Edward Browne below the sketch.

67, 69. ‘A Chiaus’. Red chalk drawing of a Turkish man, thus inscribed by Edward Browne in the upper margin at centre, accompanied by a note in Thomas Browne’s hand (item 69) describing the subject of the drawing.

68. Red chalk drawing of a man in profile, suffering from goitre, inscribed at the top by Edward Browne with the comment ‘Quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus!’.

70-71. Pen and ink drawings of coins inscribed in Arabic characters.

73. Watercolour of an ornament, with details in relief in gold.

74. ‘A Turkish Horsetail’. Watercolour.

75. ‘American & African Guitars’. Ink and India ink and wash drawing of two string instruments with annotations about their dimensions in English, signed ‘E. Kikius fec. Aug. 5. 1701.’ in the lower margin at centre. The drawing is preparatory for a print showing string musical instruments in Sloane’s Natural History of Jamaica: A Voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, vol. 1 (London, 1707).

76. Black ink and grey wash drawing of fragments of a Jamaican pottery urn signed ‘E. Kikius f. Jul. 18. 1701.’ in the upper margin at centre.

77. ‘Pompey’s Pillar, at the entrance into the Black Sea’. Oversize, foldout watercolour drawing cut out to the vertical shape of the pillar.

78. Ink and grey wash drawing of some ruins with pen and ink annotations in the upper right margin.

79. ‘Pompey his pillar at the entrance into Black Sea’. Pen and ink and pencil sketch of a seascape, with the title inscribed in the upper margin.

80. Two pen and ink and wash sketches of a seascape, combined on the same sheet.

81. ‘Perpignan’. Pen and ink townscape of Perpignan, with the name of the town inscribed in the upper margin at centre. The drawing is stamped with the monogram ‘PHL’ (the collector’s mark of Prosper Henry Lankrink) in the lower margin at centre.

82. Pen and ink townscape, inscribed in Dutch ‘tot Dunquerque’ [Dunkerque, France] in the upper right margin and stamped with the monogram ‘PHL’ (the collector’s mark of Prosper Henry Lankrink) in the lower margin at centre.

83. Pen and ink sketches of tombs seen in Hungary, accompanied by manuscript notes by Edward Browne that include a transcription of the Latin and Greek inscriptions on the tombs.

84. Red chalk sketches of a stone seat seen in Carinthia [Kärnten, Austria] and of a chair used in transportation of travellers in the Alps, with inscriptions by Edward Browne in the upper and lower margin.

85. A note in Thomas Browne’s hand referring to his son’s Edward travels in Carinthia [Kärnten, Austria].

86. Ink and wash sketch of a copper trumpet accompanied by an inscription below the sketch indicating that this was found by reverend Sankey Winter, Dean of Kildare, in Griffinrath in 1725. This is a copy drawing after a sketch of the trumpet that was enclosed in a letter written by Reverend Sankey Winter to Hans Sloane in 1726. Letter and sketch are still preserved as ff. 208-209 in Sloane MS 4048.

87. Pen and ink and watercolour sketch of a tomb seen at Lárisa in Thessaly (Greece), and of the tomb of St. Modestus, in a church in Carinthia [Kärnten, Austria], accompanied by inscriptions by Edward Browne below each sketch.

88. Pen and ink sketch of various spearheads.

89-90. Two pencil drawings of the statue of a Roman consul in the Gallery of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, with a transcription of the Etruscan inscription on its robe and a description in French along the left margin.

91-92. View of the Mosque of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, with inscriptions in English and Latin, signed in the lower right margin ‘By me Thomas Morgan Mariner, having been above XVteen years bond & thrall in the Turkes gallies’.

93. Red chalk drawing of the Statue of the Emperor on horseback in Klagenfurt (Austria) with an inscription in the upper margin by Edward Browne describing the statue.

94. Item transferred to the Prints & Drawings Department of the British Museum on 10 March 1928: Jan van Scorel, View of Bethlehem (1928,0310.100).

95. Letter dated 30 May 1705 sent from Lisbon by ‘J. W.’ to ‘Reverend Mr Smallbrook’ enclosing a sketch of the late eruption at ‘Mount Teneriff’ [the volcano on the Spanish island of Tenerife].

96-97. Pen and brown ink sketches of two townscapes.

98. ‘A Danubian Saick’. Red chalk drawing of a boat thus inscribed in the upper left corner by Edward Browne.

99. ‘Plan de la Ville de Gigery en la Coste d’Affrique, prise par l’armée du Roy tres chrestien, commandée par le duc de Beaufort, le 22 Julliet 1664.’ Pen and ink and watercolour plan of the coast of north Africa in Algeria at the time of the French King Louis XIV’s military expedition, inscribed in French in the upper right corner.

100-101. ‘Partie de L ille de Santorini’. Early 18th century chart of the volcanic islands lying the coast of the Greek island of Santorini [Thera], with place names inscribed in French and the inscription in the bottom right corner ‘Fait par De la Haye live in Grafton Street at the Wooll pack’.

102. Pen and brown ink and wash sketch of a bridge of boats over the Danube River in Vienna, with an inscription by Edward Browne referring to his visit to the bridge in 1669.1

03. Pen and brown ink sketches of Turkish monuments with accompanying inscriptions by Edward Browne.

104. Notes by Thomas Browne relating to antiquities in Bordeaux (France).

105. ‘A Bassorilievo on the Sepulchres in the Mountain[s] at Persepolis’. Indian ink and wash drawing of a bas-relief on a funerary monument nearby Persepolis [Takht-e Jamshid, present-day Iran,] signed ‘G. Hofsted v. Essen’ in the lower right margin.

106. Indian ink and wash drawing of a Persian cavalry man on horseback, and a soldier on foot, by Hofstede van Essen.

108. Nine red-bordered paper labels with pen and ink descriptions of various drawings. Some of them refer to drawings in this album, but were not pasted next to them. The text on the labels reads (following the order in which they are pasted on the folio, top to bottom): ‘An imitation of the ancient illumination’; ‘A view of the island of Tenerife with its vulcano’; ‘The great temple called Sancta Sophia at Constantinople where the Great Turk called Muratt doth inhabit’; ‘The several sorts of ships & boats used in China’; ‘Parts of urns used formerly by the Indian inhabitants of Jamaica’; ‘A sceptre of the King of Persia’; ‘Gigery a Town on the coast of Africa’; ‘These several fishes were drawn from those sold in a market in China’; ‘Murmachile concubine to Shaw Iehan in her 3 days reign coyned these pieces of the 12 signs of the zodiac of silver & gold, the silver in the night and gold in the day’.

109. A manuscript list in Hans Sloane’s hand, of names of artists and places represented in drawings in Sloane’s collection.