Pride and prejudice in Istanbul: the personal possessions of a Dutch-Greek countess (1730)

Official URL: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/uskudarsbd/issue/70963/930286

Upon his death, Count Jacobus Colyer (d. 1725), the Dutch Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, left his Greek wife Catterina de Bourg in a state of debt. The countess appears to have struggled to survive after a life of conspicuous consumption and extravagant luxury in the Ambassadorial palace. Possibly because of her seemingly proud attitude, she was often met with prejudice and malice by her husband’s relatives, travelers to the Ottoman Empire, the new Dutch Ambassador, other members of the foreign communities of Istanbul, and even her own servants. When she died in 1730, an inventory of her remaining possessions was drawn up, and most of her belongings were auctioned off to cover her debts. The records of her possessions and their auction as well as her private correspondence offer a rare glimpse into the “world” of this Dutch-Greek countess. These records bear witness of her exquisite taste in commodities brought to Istanbul from all over the world, but also of her destitute situation after the demise of her husband.