Hieroglyphs on the Broken Obelisks of Cairo, Antique Print, 1776
€ 280
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1776
Mapmaker / artist
Carsten Niebuhr; engraving directed by C. J. de Huyser
Publisher
S. J. Baalde, Amsterdam, and J. van Schoonhoven and Comp., Utrecht
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
27 × 22 cm (10.6 × 8.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-1-36
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. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners are present. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the right.
About this sheet
This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XXXVI of volume 1 of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. The caption reads, in Dutch and then in French, Beeld-Schriften op Verbrokene Obelisken te Káhira. and Hiérogliphes sur des Obélisques brisés à Káhira., meaning "Hieroglyphs on Broken Obelisks at Cairo".
Two inscriptions are copied, lettered A and B, each set out as a pair of tall, narrow strips standing side by side within the border. The signs run from top to bottom: birds, including a large standing bird and a falcon, oval rings enclosing groups of signs, looped crosses, half circles, reeds and other shapes, drawn in outline and filled with fine hatching. The strips are of different lengths. The left strip of A is the longest and its outline is ragged along part of one side, where the stone is broken. Its companion is shorter, and the two strips of B stop at different heights. Small asterisks are engraved beside several signs on both inscriptions, and a few worn places are shown as patches of stipple.
Under the lower right corner of the image is lettered "C. J. de Huyser, direx." The plate number Tab: XXXVI. is engraved at the upper right.
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. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners are present. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the right.
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.
