Portret van kan Assartus Atrabantes 1650 - 1670

This engraving of "Portret van kan Assartus Atrabantes" was made by Cornelis Meyssens in Antwerp. It presents us with an image of Assartus Atrabantes, identified as a great Tartarian Emperor. It's crucial to understand these depictions through the lens of 17th-century European encounters with the ‘Orient.’ The image speaks less about Atrabantes himself, and more about how Europeans constructed ideas about foreign rulers. The elaborate turban, the fur-lined robe, the stern gaze—all contribute to a vision of power filtered through European imagination and, perhaps, anxieties. How does this image play into broader narratives of cultural exchange and power dynamics? Whose stories are amplified, and whose are silenced in this visual representation? Consider the emotional weight of seeing oneself—or being seen—through the eyes of another culture. This is where the personal and political collide, challenging us to reflect on the gaze, then and now.