An English ambassador

so Robert shallowater extraordinary man he was one of three brothers born in provincial England in the late 16th century in 1598 he followed his elder brother Antony to Persia because they were lured by the idea of Persian wealth which had become well known he went to Iran as an 18 year old as a young slightly slightly pugilistic young blade and he married a lady called who was subsequently renamed Teresa as is pretty apparent from the pictures they make an extraordinary power in England with the appearances that they have particularly the picture of Robert surely himself is that he's depicted in in Persian costume this was his work God because when he went out on a ambassadorial missions the idea was to impress the the people that you were going to see there are a few concessions to western dress um particularly his collar and his cuffs but basically his his his robe is over robe is inspired by it's for honey fashions of the day the garment is wearing underneath is more sort of retrospective it harks back to the to the 16th century a her dress is equally interesting in that it is more faithful to Elizabeth's and fashion of the time this those had a pinched waste one of the extraordinary things is that she's holding a gun which was fairly unheard of in female portraiture at the time Shirley's life was on several occasions in grave danger and his wife Theresa on at least two occasions intervened at such moment and had role in saving his life she's also holding a small ladies fob watch which is probably an allusion to the very fashionable status that watches had in Iran at the time and people were standard and amazed by these on these Western inventions what I think is is reflected in these pictures is the the sense of sort of cultural intercourse and an exchange not simply one taken from the other but an Englishman very proud extremely proud to be in the service of a Persian king and none of the superior attitudes that you get later on in the 19th century but this is a time of very frank and open admiration one for the other and seeking of mutual of mutual interests you you