Hieroglyphs on Small Alabaster Vessels, Antique Niebuhr Print, 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 × 26 cm (8.7 × 10.2 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-1-37
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. Marked handling soiling along the top edge. Foxing over much of the margin. Several larger brown marks. Faint show-through of writing from the back in the left margin.
About this sheet
This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XXXVII of volume 1 of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. The caption reads, in Dutch and then in French, Beeld-Schriften, op kleine Albasten Potten. and Hiérogliphes, sur de petits Pots de d'Albâtre., meaning "Hieroglyphs on Small Alabaster Pots".
The plate shows the inscriptions only; the pots themselves are not drawn. Two blocks of hieroglyphs are set within the border. The larger, lettered A at the top, stands at the left and is divided into four tall ruled columns. The smaller, lettered B, stands at the upper right and has five shorter columns. The signs are copied in outline with fine hatching and run from top to bottom in each column: birds of several kinds, a recumbent animal, kneeling and seated figures, an eye, a star, half circles, water lines, reeds and small enclosures. In block A a striding animal and a horned head can be picked out near the top of the columns, and in block B a large falcon fills part of the middle column. Some signs are left faint where the surface was worn.
The plate number Tab: XXXVII. 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. Marked handling soiling along the top edge. Foxing over much of the margin. Several larger brown marks. Faint show-through of writing from the back in the left margin.
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.
