Antique Engravings on One Sheet Depicting Ruins in Mexico, 1857
€ 220
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1857
Sheet size
25.8 × 20.7 cm (10.2 × 8.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-10123
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
General age-related toning. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
Two ruins in Mexico, an original steel engraving of 1857 on one sheet from Carl August Menzel's Die Kunstwerke vom Alterthum bis auf die Gegenwart. The sheet carries a plate number at the upper left and has no printed title.
The upper image shows a small temple with three dark doorways standing on top of a rocky hill, reached by a narrow flight of stone steps that climbs between the boulders and trees. Wooded slopes and a distant ridge fill the background. The lower image shows a large stepped pyramid with a stairway on its face, rising from a flat plain beneath palms and spiky agaves, and two blocks of carved stone lie in the foreground as if fallen from the ruins. Both views are drawn in fine tonal engraving that suggests the heat and dust of the landscape.
The architecture is that of the pre-Hispanic peoples of Mexico, with pyramid platforms topped by small chambered shrines. The sheet is one of several plates in Menzel's survey of art and architecture that deal with the monuments of ancient Mexico.
