Overtures for a Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Commerce between the Ottoman Empire and the Duchy of Tuscany

[Mahmud II, Sultan]. Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1797-1870). Document signed.

Florence, 15. X. 1832.

1 leaf, 565 x 703 mm, script on recto. Black ink on vellum, with the handpainted design of the great coat of arms of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the signature of Leopold, and a partial red wax seal.

 4,500.00

The Grand Duke of Tuscany extends a message of friendship to the powerful Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II (1785-1839, here addressed as "Kan Ottomanorum, Asiae et Graeciae Imperator"), with a view to renewing and consolidating the Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Free Trade between Tuscany and the Ottoman Porte that was formed by Emperor Francis I and Sultan Mahmud I in 1747, in the long wake of the Treaty of Belgrade.

Leopold (1797-1870) was the Habsburg ruler of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany from 1824 to 1859, when he was deposed by Italian nationalists. His overture was sent through the envoy Baron Franz von Ottenfels-Gschwind (1774-1851), Austrian internuntius (ambassador) to the Sublime Porte. Indeed, on 12 February 1833 a new "Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Commerce" between Tuscany and the Ottoman Empire was signed by Ottenfels in Constantinople, duly ratified by Leopold on May 2nd and by the Sultan in February of the following year.

Gently folded, with very light marginal discoloration, but bright and clear. To the left of Leopold's signature is his red wax seal (cracked and chipped); counter-signed by the Tuscan statesmen Vittorio Fossombroni and Gaetano Casini. Painted by hand at the head of the document is the great coat of arms of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, featuring the combination of the arms of the Medici, the Renaissance rulers of Florence, and the red sash of the House of Lorraine.