Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

Доклады Международного конгресса по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки. Т. 1. 2020 281 Daria Vasilyeva (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia) Elephants as Diplomatic Gifts: Nādir Shāh’s Embassy of 1739–1742 1 Summary : The compelling story of the embassy sent to the Russian court in 1739 by Iranian monarch Nādir Shāh Afshār (1736–1747) can be considered one of the most remarkable episodes of diplomatic relations between Russia and Iran. This extraordinary embassy was aimed at announcing the triumphant victory of Nādir Shāh over the Emperor of the Great Mughals Muḥammad Shāh (1719–1748) and the conquest of Bukhara and Khiva that followed soon after the Indian campaign. Diplomatic gifts brought by the embassy to St Petersburg included high-status jewellery items, lavishly decorated vessels and other precious objects from the Mughal treasury plundered by Nādir Shāh’s army, along with textiles of different sorts and colours. The substantial Iranian delegation numbered sixteen elephants accompanied by forty-two Indian male elephant keepers of different ages. Historical sources doc- umented the everyday life of the embassy on its way to St Petersburg and described how the elephants were being taken care of. Sending elephants to the Imperial Russian court continued the practice of exchanging rare species of wild, tamed and domesticated animals and birds as official diplomatic presents between Russian and Iranian monarchs, already common by that time. The first mention of an unusual beast brought to Russia refers to the time of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible (1533–1584). According to a postscript to ‘Piskarevsky Chroni- cler’ (‘Piskarevskiy letopisets’), among presents gifted to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich (1613–1645) were two elephants accompanied by ‘Moors’. For the first time this 1 Васильева Д. О. Живые подарки: слоны посольства Надир-шаха 1739–1742 годов // XXX Международный конгресс по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки. К 150-летию академика В. В. Бартольда (1869–1930). 19–21 июня 2019 г. Материалы конгресса. СПб.: Студия «НП-Принт», 2019. Т. 1. C. 179–187. / Vasil’eva D. O. Zhiviye podarki: slony posol’stva Nadir-shakha 1739–1742 godov [Live presents: elephants of the embassy of Nādir Shāh in 1739–1742] // XXX International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia andAfrica: On the Occasion of the 150thAnniversary of Academician Vasily V. Barthold (1869–1930). 19–21 June 2019 / Ed. by Nikolay N. Dyakov, Alexander S. Matveev. St Petersburg: NP-Print Publishers, 2019. Vol. 1. P. 179–187. (In Russian). Illustrations: © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Photographers: Pavel Demidov, Konstantin Sinyavsky.