Original Antique Print of Persepolis Cuneiform Inscriptions by Niebuhr, 1780
€ 230
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1780
Mapmaker / artist
Carsten Niebuhr
Publisher
S. J. Baalde, Amsterdam, and Barthelemy Wild, Utrecht
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
27.5 × 42.5 cm (10.8 × 16.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-2-24
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 edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Folding plate, original center fold as issued. Slight wear at the top right corner.
About this sheet
This is an original antique copper engraving, published in 1780, from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's travels. The plate carries no title or caption; it is a sheet of cuneiform inscriptions copied in ruled panels and keyed with the capital letters A to G.
The long inscription A fills the left half of the sheet in many ruled lines of wedge shaped signs. To the right, B sits at the top in a shorter block, with C and D below it, the signs of C set more widely apart than those of the others. Along the bottom run three more panels, E, F and G, the last of them the widest.
Each line is ruled off from the next, and small dots stand between groups of signs. In several places a patch of rough hatching stands in place of signs, most of them in panel A. The ground of the sheet is otherwise left plain. No title, caption or signature is engraved on this sheet. The plate number Tab: XXIV. is engraved at the upper right.
The plate comes from the second volume, Tome Second, of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, Traduit de l'Allemand, published by S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and Barthelemy Wild at Utrecht, with the date MDCCLXXX, 1780, on its title page. Niebuhr's careful copies of the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis were later used by scholars working on the decipherment of cuneiform. 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.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the right edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Folding plate, original center fold as issued. Slight wear at the top right corner.
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.
