A portrait of Jean Chardin, signed by Charles or Jacques d’Agar, Paris, circa 1671

Jacques d’Agar (1640-1715) was a pupil of the painter Jacob Ferdinand Voet and gained fame as a portrait painter. He left France in 1682 and moved first to England and later Denmark where he painted portraits of the British and Dutch nobility. His son Charles (1669–1723) also became a portrait painter.

The subject of this portrait is Jean Chardin (d.1713), the son of a French Protestant jeweller who extensively travelled to Persia and India. Chardin was appointed royal merchant by Shah Abbas II (r.1642-66) and retained the title during the reign of Shah Suleyman I (r.1666-94). This portrait was likely executed upon Chardin's return to Paris, between 1669 and 1671, while he was executing various commissions for the Shah, before retuning to Persia in 1671, where he stayed until 1680. He later moved to England where he was appointed court jeweller to King Charles II (r.1660-85) and then knighted in 1681. Chardin extensively recorded his travels and published them between 1686 and 1711.