Introduction 

According to the current state of research, the portrait of James Justinian Morier (c. 1780–1849) in the art collection of Columbia University (Fig. 1) was painted in 1818, i.e., when Morier was in his late thirties. The portrait is attributed to the British portrait painter George Henry Harlow (1787–1819), although this attribution requires further research. The portrait features Morier dressed in Qajar Persian clothing, sitting in a casual pose within a palatial setting, and looking in the distance to the left. The background features an idyllic land with a partially-revealed domed structure, presumably meant to evoke Persia (present-day Iran). Why is Morier depicted in this way? What does this portrait communicate about the sitter? Accounts of Morier’s life, especially the time he spent in Persia, may help us understand the pictorial choices that inform the painting. This paper proposes to examine aspects of the sitter’s life story in relation to the portrait, with an emphasis on the period of Morier's thirties. In addition, the paper compares the Columbia portrait with other portraits of Morier made later on, in order to explore how these different portraits reflect various aspects of Morier’s identity at different stages of his life. Ultimately, the paper shows how the 1818 portrait constructs an image of Morier that is specific to the time it was painted.

About the Portrait

Currently dated 1818, the Columbia painting is believed to be the earliest extant portrait of Morier. Although neither the date of creation nor the painter can be definitively confirmed at this time, the facial features of the sitter show considerable similarities to Morier's physical appearance in other portraits of him, thus confirming the sitter's identity in our portrait. In particular, the shape of the nose and the contour of the lips in an 1819 portrait painted by an artist identified as Martin Seagrave (Fig. 2),1
 the 1850 portrait painted by Sir William Boxall (Fig. 3) and the Columbia portrait are all similar. More generally, the three portraits show visual consistency in terms of the sitter’s facial appearance and a gradual passage of time as the sitter grew older. Interestingly though, Morier looks much younger in the Columbia portrait than in the 1819 portrait attributed to Seagrave. If the latter date is firmly established, then the date of 1818 for the Columbia portrait may need to be reconsidered. These questions are addressed by Allyson Richardson in her essay “Questions of Attribution: The Portrait of James Justinian Morier in the Columbia University Art Collection.”

The Columbia portrait shows Morier wearing red and dark purple Qajar Persian garments adorned with delicate gold patterns, and a tall, cone-shaped black hat known as a kolah, typical for Persian men of the time. The clothing that Morier wears in the portrait are further discussed in Cydney Wilhelmina Williams’ essay, “Between Fact and Fiction: Qajar Costume in the Portrait of James Justinian Morier in the Columbia University Art Collection.” The Persian-style clothing betrays an Orientalist dimension reflecting the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century trend among British travelers to adopt Eastern dress when being portrayed.2
 For Morier, who had traveled extensively in Persia on the occasion of diplomatic missions, this clothing also had practical value: in his first travelogue, published in 1812, Morier commented that Persian clothing could function as a “disguise” for foreigners like himself, and as such, ease one's presence among the local population.3
 In other words, the Persian clothing that Morier wears in the portrait might be read not simply as an "exotic" costume, but also as a practical garment that the sitter might have worn during his trips. At the same time, the fact that Morier dressed himself in Persian clothing for his portrait adds a degree of performativity to it, that "asserts [the sitter's] place 'in an historical, colonialist tradition,'" thereby complicating the meaning inherent in the choice of such clothing.4

The inclusion of books and a piece of paper in the portrait (possibly a sheet from one of Morier's own manuscript or a map) frames the sitter as a young intellectual whose interest in Persia was connected to something more than Orientalist zeal. If the portrait was indeed painted in 1818, i.e., six years after the publication of his first travelogue and the same year his second travelogue was published, then the depiction of the books and piece of paper would hint at Morier’s identity as a writer on Persian culture, who strived to document meticulously his daily encounters with the Persians, and complemented them with quick sketches that would eventually serve as the basis for the illustration of his publications. Unlike the sitters featured in many contemporary portraits belonging to the Orientalist artistic tradition, such that of William Ponsonby, second earl of Bessborough (1704–1793) in Ottoman dress (Fig. 4), who spent most of his life in England and only took a tour to Constantinople when he was young, Morier had lived in Persia for about five years and gained some firsthand knowledge of Persian culture.5
Therefore, his enthusiasm for Persia and the "Orient" in general expressed in the portrait is arguably rooted in some understanding of and sympathy for the culture. While it is difficult to identify the book that Morier holds, the letters "EU" and the geometric shapes drawn on the page that he marks with his finger may provide clues about what the book might be. "EU" could stand for Euclid, the great Greek mathematician whose Elements of Geometry remained a major reference in the early nineteenth century. On the other hand, as Layla Diba has observed, the gilded leather appearance of the binding could signal an Iranian origin.6
 While a book on mathematics and geometry may seem irrelevant at first in the context of Morier's time in Persia, it ultimately helped construct the image of a well-educated figure who was an enthusiastic explorer of a distant and foreign culture, but whose knowledge was ultimately rooted in the Western tradition. 

The background of the painting, oscillating between realistic sensibility and Romantic fantasy, adds ambiguity to the portrait. On the one hand, the viewer is tempted to assume that the domed architectural structure on the right of the composition, which is quite detailed, represents a monument that Morier visited. On the other hand, to date no existing monument has been identified as the model for it. This suggests that the monument is a product of the painter's imagination and a sign of the latter's desire to incorporate in the composition what he believed would read as a typical Persian monument, whose function would be to echo, artistically and semantically, Morier’s clothing. Similar to the sitter's dress, the domed architectural structure signals the reality of Morier’s experience in Persia, all the while evoking a faraway Orientalist dreamland. From this point of view, the colonnade plays a significant role, as it allows the viewer to get a glimpse of the exoticized landscape and architecture in the background, but also separates Morier from these elements, making him both an insider and an outsider of the Middle Eastern world.

Morier until His Thirties

To better understand the portrait, it is necessary to learn about Morier’s life, especially around the time the portrait was made. While mostly remembered as the author of the popular novel The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, published in 1824, James Justinian Morier was also a diplomat. Early in his career, Morier took part in two diplomatic missions to Persia, the first one in 1807-9, the second one in 1810-6. During these trips, Morier developed genuine friendships with Persian individuals, including the Persian envoy Mirza Abul Hasan, whom he accompanied to Britain in 1809. Despite being later criticized for caricaturing Persia in his novels, Morier must have acquired between 1807 and 1816 a relatively deep and well-rounded understanding and appreciation of Persian culture. In this sense, the way in which Morier is represented in the Columbia portrait is not a mere fantasy, but rather an attempt to capture Morier’s unique life story. Indeed, at the time the portrait was painted, Morier's sojourn in Persia undoubtedly represented a major experience for him -- one that considerably helped shape his identity, especially considering his earlier unsatisfying career in the world of commerce, following in his father's footsteps.

The lives and careers of Morier and his brothers were very much dependent on their family connections, which sometimes served as an aid, yet at other times, perhaps, as a burden. Born into a merchant family in Smyrna, present-day Izmir in Turkey, around 1780, James Morier was the third child of Isaac Morier, a Swiss-born merchant who had established himself in Smyrna, and Elizabeth Clara, daughter of David Van Lennep, the Dutch consul-general and president of the Dutch Levant Company.7
 The Morier and the Van Lennep families were a close-knit, large family in Smyrna. During his childhood, Morier enjoyed close relationships with his brother as well as his cousins, uncles, and aunts from the Van Lennep family, until he and his brother John Phillip, known as Jack, were sent to Britain in 1787 to receive a traditional British education.8
 During this time, the two brothers received good care from the Waldegrave family, to which Clara’s younger sister, Corbelia-Hacoba, was married. When Jack and James came of age, they immediately joined the family business in Smyrna as representatives and potential successors to their father, working with Isaac’s partner and friend, Robert Wilkinson. However, neither Jack nor James found the trading business a fulfilling profession. Together with their younger brother David, they quit commerce and turned to the world of diplomacy, in which they all succeeded. 

James Morier took over his father's responsibilities in the Levant Company in both London and Smyrna from 1799 to 1806. However, as a young man who had developed a deep interest in Classical culture and valued the pleasures of life over the making of profit, commerce did not suit Morier, even though he was much respected by his partners and colleagues. Despite the feeling of dissatisfaction and disillusion he expressed in his letters, Morier carried on with his work in the Levant Company out of filial piety, while his religious education prompted him to persuade himself that he should pursue what he believed was his obligation towards his family.9
 In his first letter home after he arrived in Smyrna on April 15, 1797, Morier wrote: “I thus reason within myself ‘Why should I have the least prejudice against staying here? The virtuous man, the ,am who can look up to his Creator and say ‘I am ready whenever You command me to resign my life’ in whatever situation he many find himself, good or bad, is always happy.”10

Nevertheless, Morier could not totally suppress his personal inclinations. In Smyrna, he further studied Classical languages and music, and then traveled to the Aegean islands, Athens, and Italy. The lines that Morier wrote in an 1803 letter to his parents foreshadow his shift from commerce to diplomacy and writing, a shift that would happen soon: “Youth is ever eager after novelty & what can more satiate its curiosity than travelling? Its eagerness when properly directed may be productive of the highest good.”11
 Morier’s desire to travel and discover other cultures led him to seize the work opportunity that presented itself when he met Harford Jones, the former representative of the East India Company, in 1807 in Constantinople. Morier had already traveled from Smyrna to Constantinople in 1806, joining his father, who had been appointed consul-general of the Levant Company there. When, the following year, Morier met Harford Jones, the latter was about to go to Britain to persuade the government to let him go negotiate a treaty with Persia. Jones managed to obtain the post of special envoy from King George III, and Morier decided to accompany him, in the hope of serving as his aide during the mission. Morier thus embarked on his first trip to Persia, in the role of personal secretary to Jones. The negotiation of the treaty eventually succeeded, despite hitches in the process.12
 In his letters, Morier refers to his time in Persia as “one of the happiest days I ever passed.” His earlier complaint to his brother David about the “sullenness that you have so often teazed [sic] me about” when he thought that he was “destined to buy and sell Turkey figs’ for ever” now belonged to the past.13

The portrait reflects the career path that suited Morier's aspirations, although his later experience in Persia also proved disappointing, and Morier eventually abandoned diplomacy for writing.14
 While the portrait belongs to the larger Orientalist artistic tradition, it is also important to recognize that Persia, to Morier, was not just a land of fantasy but also the place where, as a young man, he asserted his identity, independent from his father’s influence. Yet the portrait is also informed by Morier's social network and the role of his family in the larger historical context, as Morier's trips to Persia would not have been possible without his family connections. In fact, it is no coincidence that the three Morier brothers all pursued a career in diplomacy. Although Isaac and Clara Morier were not directly involved in diplomacy, James and his brothers were connected to the diplomatic community through their family's links with Britain, Turkey, and Persia, as economic and political interests were closely intertwined. Euan R. Wall’s essay, “The Historical Context of James Justinian Morier’s Travels: France, Britain, and Persia, 1798–1815,” examines in details the political context of the time. 

Later Portraits of Morier 

Compared to the Columbia portrait, allegedly painted in 1818, portraits of Morier produced at later times present him in different lights. At least three other portraits of Morier are known: the oil painting made in 1819 by Martin Seagrave, a pen and ink drawing made by Daniel Maclise in 1833 (Fig. 5), after which a lithograph was made in the same year (Fig. 6), and the oil painting by William Boxall published as a print in 1850 (Fig. 3). These portraits depict Morier at various stages of his life: in his early fifties, when he had become a successful fiction writer, and in his sixties, i.e., towards the end of his life.

The Columbia portrait and the oil portrait created in 1819 reflect two different aspects of the young Morier's identity. In the 1819 bust portrait, Morier is dressed in a dark, straightforward garment typical for British upper-class men of the time. He looks towards the viewer with neutral, minimal facial expression. The painting conveys the image of a well-educated gentleman with understated elegance. This image is consistent with the type of education that Morier received in Britain.15
 Compared with the Columbia portrait, where Morier's bright, alert gaze and slightly unstable pose suggest a man animated by curiosity, the 1819 portrait reflects an aloof demeanor. Furthermore, in the Columbia portrait, Morier holds the book firmly in his left hand and uses a finger to mark one of the pages –– a gesture that imparts energy and intentionality. Compared with the 1819 portrait, which shows an elite gentleman in his familiar homeland, the Columbia portrait elicits a stronger sense of individual agency in the midst of an adventurous life.

The other portraits of Morier were all produced at later stages of the sitter's life. In the 1833 drawing by Daniel Maclise and the lithograph after the drawing, Morier, dressed in a formal suit, stands erect in an assertive, even confrontational pose. The portrait seems to be set in a British interior. In the drawing, a fireplace behind Morier is outlined. More details are present in the lithograph, including figurines placed on the top of the fireplace, a portrait of a woman hanging just behind Morier, and a carpet potentially of Oriental origin -- an item which might have become a norm in many British houses by then. At the bottom of both portraits, a caption is added to specify the identity of the sitter: “James Morier: Author of Hajji Baba in England.” The book referenced in the inscription was Morier’s second novel, published in 1828. Indeed, by the time the lithograph was published, Morier had retired from his diplomatic career and while he had just published his third novel, Zohrab the Hostage (1832), the Hajji Baba series remained his most popular work. Produced at a time when Morier had established his reputation as a novelist yet suffered from the waning of his inspiration, the drawing and lithograph convey a rather confident, self-assured public image.16
 Interestingly, although the portrait inscriptions mention Morier’s novel, thereby alluding to Persia, the images themselves do not explicitly comment on the author's actual connections with Persia. It is likely that by the 1830s, Morier was essentially known as a British author of Orientalist novels, rather than a diplomat who once lived in a foreign land; accordingly, it is the former aspect of his public identity that is foregrounded. Finally, the portrait painted by William Boxall bears many similarities to the 1819 portrait. In it, Morier is again represented as an elegant gentleman. It seems that Morier had reached a point in his life where he enjoyed fame, peace, and quiet pleasure. In fact, throughout his entire life, Morier did not exhibit strong ambitions in terms of wealth or power –– a quality that might also explain his choice of abandoning diplomacy and devoting the rest of his life to writing.17

The portraits of James Justinian Morier discussed in this paper reflect different aspects of Morier's rich trajectory, which included commerce, diplomacy, and writing, while hinting at his personal background and social status. Together, they visually preserve key moments of the sitter's experiences, allowing the viewer to look back at Morier's life and time. In light of Morier’s biography and other portraits of him, one can better appreciate the Columbia portrait. A collaboration between painter and sitter, this portrait, while indulging in Orientalism, presents a lively image of the young Morier as an intellectual showing curiosity and enthusiasm for Persian culture. 

 

Appendix: Timeline of James Justinian Morier's Life18

c. 1780, August 15: born in Smyrna; son of Isaac Morier (1750–1817), a consul-general of the Levant Company, and Elizabeth Clara, daughter of David Van Lennep, the Dutch consul-general and president of the Dutch Levant Company

1787: moved to Britain

1796–1799: worked at his father’s Levant Company, London office

1799–180:  worked at his father’s Levant Company, Smyrna office

1806: met Harford Jones in Constantinople

1807: departed for Persia from Britain as the secretary of Harford Jones

1808: arrived in Tehran

1809, May: left for Britain with Mirza Abul Hasan

1809–1810: served as an aide to Mirza Abul Hasan in London

1810, July: departed for Persia from Britian as secretary to Sir Gore Ouseley

1811, November: arrived in Tehran

1812: published first travelogue, A Journey Through Persia, Armenia and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809

1813: traveled to Russia for an armistice

1814: served as the interim minister when Ouseley returned home due to poor health

1814, by November: Henry Ellis arrived in Persia, and Morier recommended that he be replaced by a chargé d’affaires

1816, October: left Persia

1817: reached London and retired with a pension

1818: published second travelogue, A Second Journey Through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, Between the Years 1810 and 1816

1820, June 17: married Harriet (1788/9–1858), daughter of William Fulke Greville

1819–1820: came out of retirement and aided Mirza Abu'l Hasan in London

1822: Morier and Harriet’s only son, Greville (1822–1870), was born

1824–1826: went to Mexico to negotiate a treaty

1824: published novel The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Isphahan

1828: published novel The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Isphahan in England

c. 1828: co-founded The Athenaeum: A Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama

1829–1831: travelled on the continent and then retired to Brighton because of his wife’s poor health

1832: published novel Zohrab the Hostage

1834: published novel Ayesha the Maid of Kars

1837: published novel Abel Allnutt

1841: published novel The Mirza

1847: published novel Misselmah

1849: published novel Martin Toutroud, or, The Frenchman in London

1849, March 19: died in Brighton

• 1This oil painting, identified as a portrait of James J. Morier painted by Martin Seagrave in 1819, was reproduced in Henry Mckenzie Johnston's book, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, James Morier, Creator of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, and His Brothers (London: British Academic Press, 1998). There is no known collection identified, and it is uncertain who the artist Martin Seagrave is.
• 2Christine Riding, “Travellers and Sitters: The Orientalist Portrait,” The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting, Nicholas Tromans, ed. (Yale University Press, 2008), 48–49. Edward W. Said defines “Orientalism” in his book, Orientalism (New York: Vintage, 1979), as the idea in the West of “the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny and so on.”
• 3James Morier, A Journey Through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809; in Which Is Included, Some Account of the Proceedings of His Majesty's Mission, Under Sir Harford Jones, Bart K.C. to the Court of the King of Persia (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1812), 9.
• 4Christine Riding, “Travellers and Sitters,” 48, 52–54.
• 5For the biography of William Ponsonby, please see: Gerard O'Brien, "Ponsonby, William, Second Earl of Bessborough (1704–1793)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/22504 (subscription database). For the biography of James Justinian Morier, please see: Stanley Lane-Poole, "Morier, James Justinian (1782–1849)," Revised by Elizabeth Baigent, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/19259 (subscription database). For more on the Orientalist portraits in relation to the rise of Masquerade and the fancy-dress portraiture that "allowed former travellers and domestic Britons alike to don exotic and foreign styles of dress," please see: Tara Mayer, "Cultural Cross-Dressing: Posing and Performance in Orientalist Portraits," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 22, no. 2 (April 2012): 287–294.
• 6This observation was made by Layla Diba on the occasion of her visit to Columbia University on April 26, 2018 to view the Morier portrait.
• 7Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, James Morier, Creator of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, and His Brothers (London: British Academic Press, 1998), 5. The second child of the family lived for only 15 months, so James was often referred to and considered as the second child of the family.
• 8Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 5–12.
• 9Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 20–26.
• 10Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 21.
• 11Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 24–25.
• 12Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 83–105.
• 13Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 105.
• 14Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 164–179, 190–204.
• 15Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 6–11.
• 16Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 220.
• 17Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys, 226.
• 18This timeline is composed based on the following two sources: Stanley Lane-Poole, "Morier, James Justinian (1782–1849)." Henry Mckenzie Johnston, Ottoman and Persian Odysseys.