Setting off in 1738, Jean-Étienne Liotard sailed across the Mediterranean to Constantinople where he stayed for the next five years. This portrait is characteristic of his fine and elegant art evoking aspects of oriental miniatures. The artist takes particular care to bring out the quality of the various materials making up the outfit of this ambassador of the Habsburg Empire, who also saw himself as a representative of European refinement. Count Ulfeldt is depicted in a Turkish setting, holding in his hand his letter of accreditation signed by Sultan Mahmut I.