Reflection of Political and Economic Relations between Shah Abbas I and the Venice Republic in Documents and Artworks in the National Archive of Venice (ASVe) and Museo Correr

 
 
Before the Safavid period (1501-1736), the relations between Iran and the West were very limited, and there are only few available documents regarding the presence of Venetian merchants in Tabriz during the Ilkhanate period in Iran (1256-1356), the relations between Iran and Spain during the Timurid period (1370-1507), and the union of Iran with the Republic of Venice to confront the Ottoman Turks from the Aq Qoyunlu period (1450-1501). During the reign of Shah Abbas I (1588-1629) and following the expansion of the Ottoman Empire toward the West, the relations between Iran and the Republic of Venice (Serenissima at that time) reached their peak in the direction of unity against the common enemy - the Ottoman Empire - and as a result, part of the art, as well as, the way of Venetian document writing was influenced. Due to this necessity, in 1592, Pope Clement VIII (papacy: 1592-1605) sent a letter to Shah Abbas in which he spoke about the necessity of unity to confront the Turks.
Although these relations were initially formed with a political approach, examining the documents of the National Archive of Venice (ASVe) and the works in the Museo Correr, the most important museum in Venice, located in St. Mark's Square indicates that in most of the letters exchanged between Shah Abbas and the Republic of Venice, the strength of cultural and friendly relations has been emphasized between these two countries. The continuation of these relations caused the attention of Italians to be drawn to Safavid Iran, and many historians and world travelers of this nationality detailed the geography, customs, history, and events of Iran in their writings. A large part of these writings, which have been written in various forms, including travelogues, diaries, and historical reports, in addition to the documents related to the commercial-political relations between Iran and Venice, are kept in the National Archive of this city today. One of the most important aspects of these documents can be seen in connection with economic issues. However, this type of document writing began in 1600 with the notification of Shah Abbas's decree to Efeh Bey, an important part of these documents dated back to 1603 and later years. In this year, Fethi Bey arrived in Venice as the Shah's ambassador. The document of his presence in the Senate of Venice is the first Italian document that refers to the presence of an Iranian in this city. This year, he brought along a letter from Shah Abbas, which was written to Mario Grimani the Duke of Venice. In this letter, Shah Abbas has expressed his three main goals in the most respectful possible way: establishing friendly relations, increasing military weapons, and expanding trade relations.
A painting from 1603 by Gabriele Caliari in the Palazzo Ducale -Royal Palace of Venice- shows Grimani receiving gifts from Shah Abbas. The effort to preserve this event in the most important palace in this city, the presence of numerous officials of this city, and the position of Iranian envoys in this painting can be considered a sign of the importance that the Republic of Venice and Mario Grimani had in mind for this relationship and recording of this historical moment. Numerous gifts sent to the Republic of Venice by Shah Abbas and through his ambassadors, now form a section of the most important objects in the Museo Correr.
The arrival of the ambassadors of Shah Abbas to Venice, as well as the emphasis on silk trade and the sending of goods from this king to the Republic of Venice, aroused the curiosity of Venetian and European artists living in Venice to learn more about this oriental culture and led to the formation of a new genre in Venetian art in which the artists recorded the face of Shah Abbas and his ambassadors, who in some cases were Europeans (such as the Shirley brothers), paying full attention to the face, clothes, fabric design, and details. According to the archival documents available, due to the increase in the goods sent by Shah Abbas, the political leaders of the Republic of Venice decided to value them and budget for hosting and providing services to Iranian representatives and sending gifts to Iran.
This research seeks to find different aspects of these relations and challenges to answer questions such as what was the current relationship between Shah Abbas and the Republic of Venice and what dimensions did it include? Who were the most important people in the mentioned relationships? Was the goal of Shah Abbas in continuing the relations with the Republic of Venice only to unite against the common enemy? What artists have turned to recording the faces of Shah Abbas and his ambassadors? Which of the goods sent by Shah Abbas are currently stored in the city of Venice? In this respect, the documents available have been reviewed and analyzed.
According to these documents, it can be well understood that Shah Abbas turned the alliance against the common enemy into an opportunity for cultural, commercial, and friendly relations and created a new multiple discourse in the political history of Iran. This point can be well examined from the gifts sent by him. One of the first gifts of Shah Abbas, which was sent to this city by Fathi Bey and has remained until now, was with the subject of Annunciation. The texture of the fabric containing a topic, that is very important for Westerners, can be another of Shah Abbas's new views in his international discourse in the direction of respect for Western statesmen – who were chosen in many cases as religious persons – which created great respect for senders and Iranian goods sent by Shah Abbas in the vision of Westerners.
Along with sending gifts that have spiritual and material value, and simultaneously impress the church and the European countries, the king’s approach is also seen in the gifting of carpets and the widespread reflection of Iranian carpets instead of Ottoman examples in various European courts created the ground of his success in introducing his products to the western society. On the other hand, some pieces of evidence also show that he considered other developments in the field of textiles at the same time and tried to attract European weavers to improve textile production. Therefore, it can be said that his approach to foreign relations established a new form of foundation for the relations between Iran and Europe, which formed the basis of trade in later periods, and the examination of documents left from later periods by other researchers also enabled us to be more aware of his role and importance in the development of Iran's foreign relations.
The method of conducting this research is descriptive-historical, and data collection has been done in the form of library and documentary. Since the information contained in the writings of Italian historians or world travelers about the Safavid era can be considered the most integrated information, this research first collected and analyzed the relevant historical information through library and archival research, and then introduced the artworks influenced by the arising of these relationships.
The results of the research show the approaches of Shah Abbas in his relations with the Republic of Venice in three political, cultural, and economic dimensions with the priority of expanding the cultural aspects, as a result of which, the recording of events related to Shah Abbas, his messengers and Safavid era in Iran in the documents of Venice, the recording of gifts from Iran, and paying attention to the visage and clothing of Iranian ambassadors as new subjects were popularized by artists living in this city. This issue should be considered as the primary basis for Europeans' understanding of Iran during the Safavid period, which while promoting Iranian culture and art in Venice and Its expansion to other Western countries, led to the expansion of relations and the presence of more Europeans in Iran.