The Persian mirror : French reflections of the Safavid empire in early modern France

'The Persian Mirror' explores France's preoccupation with Persia in the seventeenth century. Long before Montesquieu's 'Persian Letters', French intellectuals, diplomats and even ordinary Parisians were fascinated by Persia and eagerly consumed travel accounts, fairy tales, and the spectacle of the Persian ambassador's visit to Paris and Versailles in 1715. Using diplomatic sources, fiction and printed and painted images, 'The Persian Mirror' describes how the French came to see themselves in Safavid Persia. In doing so, it revises our notions of orientalism and the exotic and suggests that early modern Europeans had more nuanced responses to Asia than previously imagined "The Persian Mirror explores France's preoccupation with Persia in the seventeenth century. Long before Montesquieu's Persian Letters, French intellectuals, diplomats and even ordinary Parisians were fascinated by Persia and eagerly consumed travel accounts, fairy tales, and the spectacle the Persian ambassador's visit to Paris and Versailles in 1715. Using diplomatic sources, fiction and printed and painted images, The Persian Mirror describes how the French came to see themselves in Safavid Persia. In doing so, it revises our notions of orientalism and the exotic and suggests that early modern Europeans had more nuanced responses to Asia than previously imagined."-- Front inside flap of cover 'The Persian Mirror' explores France's preoccupation with Persia in the seventeenth century. Long before Montesquieu's 'Persian Letters', French intellectuals, diplomats, and even ordinary Parisians were fascinated by Persia and eagerly consumed travel accounts, fairy tales, and the spectacle of the Persian ambassador's visit to Paris and Versailles in 1715. Using diplomatic sources, fiction, and printed and painted images, the text describes how the French came to see themselves in Safavid Persia. In doing so, it revises our notions of Orientalism and the exotic and suggests that early modern Europeans had more nuanced responses to Asia than previously imagined Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction to the Mirror 1. Missionaries, Travelers, and the Case of Jean Chardin 2. Persia: A Courtly East in the French Imaginaire 3. Against All Odds: The Diplomatic Mission of Pierre-Victor Michel to Persia, 1706–1708 4. The Persian Embassy to France in 1715: Conflict and Understanding 5. Images of Mohammad Reza Beg: Fashioning the Ambassador 6. Images of the Persian Visit: Connections Between the Safavid and Bourbon Crowns 7. The Absolutist Mirror Epilogue: The Beg and the Persian Letters Notes Selected Bibliography Index