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Mamluk Sultan Qānṣawh al-Ghawrī from
De gli habiti antichi, e moderni di diverse parti del mondo libri due,
fatti da Cesare Vecellio & con discorsi da lui dichiatati...
(Of Ancient and Modern Dress of Diverse Parts of the World in Two Books . . .)
by Cesare Vecellio, 1590


CAMPSV GAVRI GRA SOLDA
Sultan Kansou-Algourique {Qānṣawh al-Ghawrī}

Back to African, Mamluk and Arabian Costume and Soldiers in De gli habiti antichi, e moderni di diverse parti del mondo libri due by Cesare Vecellio.

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Zaccaria Pagan from Belluno wrote the report of the voyage to Cairo of his master, the ambassador Domenico Trevisan in 1512. He saw the Mamluk sultan Qānṣaw al-Ġawrī and describes his dress and headgear very well together with those of his officials. The manuscript was accompanied by two coloured drawings that still existed in the 19^thc., in the collection of the Piloni family where it was kept together with many works and manuscripts by Cesare Vecellio. Thus it is possible then that the Vecellio's drawings were inspired by Pagan's work. Source: Gentile Bellini E l'Oriente by Maria Pia Pedani

Vecellio included one of these Mamluks in his collection of Egyptians, in addition to one of their sultans, Campson Guari, also known as, Qansawh al-Ghawri. Al-Ghawri was the last grand Mamluk sultans of Egypt before the Ottoman conquest. Venetian officials sent a diplomatic mission to his court in 1512. Zaccaria Pagani recorded the activities of the party that was headed by Domenico Trevisan.³⁸ Though it was not included in Ramusio, Vecellio may have had access to this text, which was available in manuscripts in Venice and possibly Belluno. In 1516, Sultan al-Ghawri was defeated and killed by Ottoman aggressors while defending his northern lands in Syria.<sup>39

38</sup> Domenico Trevisano was sent to Cairo to arrange for the resumption of trade after it had been disrupted by high prices that resulted from Portuguese raids in the Indian Ocean. See Zaccaria Pagani, Viaggio di Domenico Trevisan Ambasciatore Beneto al Gran Sultano del Cairo nell’ anno 1512 (Venezia, 1875).
³⁹ Ibid, 25.
Source: p. 15, African Costume for Artists: The Woodcuts in Book X of Habiti antichi et moderni di tutto il mondo, 1598 by Laura Renee Herrmann