![Null [Manuscript]. [Ottoman Empire]. Grand berat of investiture in the name of S…](https://cdn.drouot.com/d/image/lot?size=fullHD&path=1/145361/0be7549ca32dbe31df27fb415867d6c5)
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[Manuscript]. [Ottoman Empire]. Grand berat of investiture in the name of Sultan Mustafa III (r. 1757-74) appointing the Roman Catholic Apostolic Archbishop of the islands of Naxos and Paros. Istanbul, Ottoman Turkey, dated 10 dhu al-qi da 1172 H/5 July 1757. In Ottoman Turkish, the sultan's tughra finely executed in red ink, the 13-line text in divani written alternately in gold, red and black ink on a gold-flecked background, gold sequins between the lines, dated in the last line, folds, soiling tears and small chips. Size: 155.5 x 59.7 cm. A berat is a written order of the Ottoman sultan issued by the imperial chancellery and bearing his cipher (tughra). It is a special type of document used to grant a privilege or appoint a state official. This fine example is a patent appointing a certain Stefani to the ecclesiastical office of Roman Catholic Apostolic Archbishop of the islands of Naxos and Paros. This is most likely Pietro Martire de Stefani, born in 1710 and archbishop of Naxos until 1773 (see on him McCormick, Andrew, "An Embattled Catholic Archbishop between Latins and Greeks in the Ottoman Aegean", in Global Reformations: Transforming Early Modern Religions, Societies, and Cultures, edited by Nicholas Terpstra, London, 2019, pp. 195-209 and https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bstefani.html). The patent was established following the illegal assumption of office by a man named Masakor, who was removed from office. For a discussion of Ottoman firmans, see Aysegül Nadir (ed.), Osmanli padisah fermanlari, London, 1986 and Ismet Binark (ed.), Osmanli Fermanlari, Istanbul, 1992. On the appointment of Catholic bishops and archbishops in the Ottoman Empire, see Elisabetta Borromeo, "Le clergé catholique face au pouvoir ottoman : les brevets de nomination (berât) des évêques et des archevêques (17e siècle)", in Contacts and controversies between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the Ottoman Empire and pre-modern Iran, Würzburg, 2010, pp. 207-22. A berat of Sultan Mustafa III (r. 1757-74) granting an ecclesiastical office to Pietro Martire de Stefani, Istanbul, Ottoman Turkey, dated 10 dhu al-qi da 1172 H/5 juillet 1757.
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[Manuscript]. [Ottoman Empire]. Grand berat of investiture in the name of Sultan Mustafa III (r. 1757-74) appointing the Roman Catholic Apostolic Archbishop of the islands of Naxos and Paros. Istanbul, Ottoman Turkey, dated 10 dhu al-qi da 1172 H/5 July 1757. In Ottoman Turkish, the sultan's tughra finely executed in red ink, the 13-line text in divani written alternately in gold, red and black ink on a gold-flecked background, gold sequins between the lines, dated in the last line, folds, soiling tears and small chips. Size: 155.5 x 59.7 cm. A berat is a written order of the Ottoman sultan issued by the imperial chancellery and bearing his cipher (tughra). It is a special type of document used to grant a privilege or appoint a state official. This fine example is a patent appointing a certain Stefani to the ecclesiastical office of Roman Catholic Apostolic Archbishop of the islands of Naxos and Paros. This is most likely Pietro Martire de Stefani, born in 1710 and archbishop of Naxos until 1773 (see on him McCormick, Andrew, "An Embattled Catholic Archbishop between Latins and Greeks in the Ottoman Aegean", in Global Reformations: Transforming Early Modern Religions, Societies, and Cultures, edited by Nicholas Terpstra, London, 2019, pp. 195-209 and https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bstefani.html). The patent was established following the illegal assumption of office by a man named Masakor, who was removed from office. For a discussion of Ottoman firmans, see Aysegül Nadir (ed.), Osmanli padisah fermanlari, London, 1986 and Ismet Binark (ed.), Osmanli Fermanlari, Istanbul, 1992. On the appointment of Catholic bishops and archbishops in the Ottoman Empire, see Elisabetta Borromeo, "Le clergé catholique face au pouvoir ottoman : les brevets de nomination (berât) des évêques et des archevêques (17e siècle)", in Contacts and controversies between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the Ottoman Empire and pre-modern Iran, Würzburg, 2010, pp. 207-22. A berat of Sultan Mustafa III (r. 1757-74) granting an ecclesiastical office to Pietro Martire de Stefani, Istanbul, Ottoman Turkey, dated 10 dhu al-qi da 1172 H/5 juillet 1757.
