Portrait of Shabtai Zvi "King of Jews" - 1660 - Drawn and Printed in His Lifetime - Extremely Rare

Large, impressive portrait of Shabtai Zvi. Under it a French inscription: "this is the real portrait of Shabtai Zvi, kong of Jews, who was born in Izmir, Asia. Here at the age of 40".
The picture was drawn and printed in circa 1660, during the lifetime of Shabtai Zvi. During his lifetime two additional pictures had been drawn. An additional copy of the lithograph before us can be found in the National Mueseum in Paris. Extremely rare.
Sabbatai Zvi (1626 - c. 1677]) was a Sephardic Rabbi and kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement.
Shabtai Zvi was born on Tisha Be'Av (the day the Messiah is supposed to be born on according to tradition) 1626. In his youth he studied Torah and Kabbala with the greatest rabbis. He claimed to have Divine visions that led him to the conclusion that he was the Messiah. He received confirmation of this by Nathan of Gaza, who claimed he had received a prophecy announcing that Shabtai Zvi was indeed the Messiah. Nathan's announcement spread quickly and thousands of Jews believed that the Messiah had come. Many rabbis also believed the rumor. Only one - Rabbi Ya'akov Sasportas - declared, in vain, that Shabtai Zvi was an imposter. The despair felt by the Jews due to the 1648-1649 Pogroms made them believe that the Messiah had finally come.
In February of 1666, upon his arrival in Constantinople, Shabtai was imprisoned following orders issued by the grand vizier Ahmed Köprülü; after being moved from different prisons around the capital to Adrianople (the imperial court's seat) for judgment on accusations of fomenting sedition, Shabtai was given the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal, or of converting to Islam. Shabtai seems to have chosen the latter by donning on his head from then on a Turkish turban and was revealed to the Jews as an imposter. The Jews were overcome with bitter disappointment and great despair in face of the revelation. He died on Yom Kippur 1677.
26.5X19.5 cm.
Condition: Very Good.