author
Jean Chardin
A jeweler, diplomat, and fearless traveler, Jean Chardin created one of the most vivid European accounts of seventeenth-century Persia. His journeys through Iran, India, the Caucasus, and the Near East opened a richly detailed window onto Safavid culture and court life.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Jean Chardin (1643–1713), also known in England as Sir John Chardin, was a French Huguenot jeweler and traveler born in Paris. He first went east in the 1660s, traveling through Constantinople, the Black Sea, Persia, and India. His skill as a jeweler brought him to the court of Shah Abbas II, where he became a trusted dealer in precious stones and gained unusual access to Persian society.
Chardin returned to Persia in 1671 and spent several years traveling through Iran, the Caucasus, Georgia, and India. He learned Persian and carefully recorded the region’s customs, politics, religion, geography, and daily life. His observations were shaped by direct experience as well as conversations with local scholars and officials.
After settling in England in 1681, partly because of persecution of Protestants in France, he was knighted by King Charles II and became a court jeweler. His travel account was published in stages, with the complete edition appearing in 1711 as Voyages de monsieur le chevalier Chardin en Perse et autres lieux de l’Orient. The work remains an important firsthand source on Safavid Persia and the wider Near East.