Inscriptions on a Desert Tomb Stone, 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
27.5 × 22 cm (10.8 × 8.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-1-45
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 right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. One larger brown mark.
About this sheet
This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XLV of the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. The caption engraved below the image reads Beeld-Schriften, op een' Graf-steen in de Woestyne. in Dutch and Hiérogliphes, sur une Tombe dans le Desert. in French, meaning hieroglyphs on a tombstone in the desert.
The whole of the tall frame is given to a single inscription, copied line by line in sixteen ruled horizontal rows inside a heavy double border. The signs are drawn in solid hatched silhouette and spaced across each row much as they stood on the stone. Among the signs that can be picked out are many birds of several kinds, large and small, drawn standing in profile; seated and kneeling human figures, some holding staffs or a bow; a striding animal in the top row; snakes, eyes, loaves, baskets and water lines; and a branching tree shape near the foot of the stone. A few signs are left as faint dotted outlines where the carving was worn.
No artist's or engraver's name is lettered on the plate. The plate number Tab: XLV. is engraved at the upper right.
The plate belongs to the first volume of Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, marked TOME PREMIER and Traduit de l'Allemand on its title page, which carries the imprint of S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and J. van Schoonhoven and Comp. at Utrecht and the date MDCCLXXVI. Carsten 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. The account was first published in German at Copenhagen; this is the French translation printed in Amsterdam and Utrecht.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. One larger brown mark.
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.
