Granite Chest Hieroglyphs with Four Standing Figures, Plate XXXII, 1776
€ 240
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1776
Mapmaker / artist
Carsten Niebuhr
Publisher
S. J. Baalde, Amsterdam, and J. van Schoonhoven and Comp., Utrecht
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
22 × 27 cm (8.7 × 10.6 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-1-33
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom and left edges, with a brown stain in the left margin. Light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. Shallow nicks along the bottom.
About this sheet
This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XXXII of volume 1 of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. The caption reads, in Dutch and then in French, Beeld-Schriften, op eene Kist van Granit. and Hiérogliphes, sur une Caisse de Granit., meaning "Hieroglyphs on a Chest of Granite".
Across the top runs a frieze of recumbent jackals on low bases, alternating with groups of tall upright signs. Below it is a horizontal band of hieroglyphs, kneeling figures, birds and other signs, and below that a row of narrow ruled columns of signs, read from top to bottom, with birds, seated figures, enclosures and water lines among them. In the lower register four figures stand in a row on a ground line, drawn in solid tone. The two at the left raise both arms above their heads. The third, with an animal's head, bends forward with its arms lowered, and the fourth, wearing a tall plumed crown, also bends forward toward a short line of signs. Beneath the ground line runs a broad band of meander pattern. The lower right part of the stone is drawn broken away along a ragged diagonal line, which cuts across the columns and the meander and passes just beside the fourth figure.
The plate number Tab: XXXII. is engraved upright along the right margin, beside the border. No artist's or engraver's name is lettered on this sheet.
The sheet comes from the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, the Tome Premier, translated from the German and issued at Amsterdam by S. J. Baalde and at Utrecht by J. van Schoonhoven and Comp., with the date MDCCLXXVI on its title page. Niebuhr (1733 to 1815) was a German born surveyor in Danish service and the only member of the Danish expedition to Arabia (1761 to 1767), sent by King Frederick V of Denmark, to return alive.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom and left edges, with a brown stain in the left margin. Light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. Shallow nicks along the bottom.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
