Antique Plan of the City of Shiraz in Persia, Niebuhr, 1780
€ 170
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1780
Mapmaker / artist
Carsten Niebuhr; T. K. fecit
Publisher
S. J. Baalde, Amsterdam, and Barthelemy Wild, Utrecht
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
27.5 × 23 cm (10.8 × 9.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-2-35
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
Slight wear at the bottom right corner. The right edge is uneven. Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin.
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 caption in the margin; the town is named within its walls as SCHIRÂS, the city of Shiraz.
The town is drawn as a rounded walled circuit with towers set along the wall. Six gates are lettered around it, among them Isfahân P., Bagkscha P., Kasserûn P., Schadai P. and Sade P. Inside the walls a few buildings are marked: Sarbach, Schahi Scherá, Zeüdel Hössein, the arsenal lettered Tuighuis Arsenal and the powder store lettered Kruit Magazyn and Magasin à Poudre. A compass rose with a fleur de lis pointer stands in the upper part of the town.
Outside the walls the fields and gardens are engraved in fine dashed lines, with trees, roads and small buildings, among them Mir Hamza and Chatûn, with a group lettered B at the upper right. Several roads leave the gates, their names lettered along them in Dutch as Weg and in French as Chemin. A scale lettered Pas geomet. runs at the lower left. The lower left margin is signed T.K.f., and the plate number Tab. XXXV. 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. 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.
Slight wear at the bottom right corner. The right edge is uneven. Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the 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.
