Letters in silk pouches : diplomatic correspondence from the Safavid Court in the Swedish National Archives

På 1600-talet sände den svenska kronan ambassadörer till hovet i Isfahan för att förhandla fram ett handelsavtal om export av iranskt råsilke till Stockholm. Efter varje sändebud fördes ett brev från shahen av Persien till kungen av Sverige tillbaka till Stockholm. Dessa brev, i exklusiva silkespåsar, förvaras i Riksarkivet. Anna Jolly och Stanislaw Adam Jaskowski ger en detaljerad studie av breven och silkespåsarna i sitt historiska sammanhang och presenterar dem som konkreta bevis på två högt utvecklade konstformer som utövades vid det iranska hovet: konsten att skriva och konsten att väva silke.

In the 17th century, the Swedish crown sent three embassies to the Safavid court in Isfahan to negotiate a trade agreement for the export of Iranian raw silk to Stockholm. The diplomat Ludvig Fabritius led the Swedish delegations on their journeys and extended sojourns at the Persian court. After each embassy, a letter from the Shah of Persia to the King of Sweden was brought back to Stockholm. These documents are today kept in the Swedish National Archives. Their composition and content reflect the formalised writing style of the Safavid chancellery. For transport the royal letters were folded and slipped into precious textile pouches which have also been preserved. The fabrics from which the pouches were made count among the most luxurious silk textiles produced in Safavid Iran. This monograph offers a detailed study of these Persian letters and silk pouches in their historical context and presents them as tangible evidence of two highly developed arts practised at the Iranian court, both conveying the splendour of their sovereign: the art of writing and the art of silk weaving.