Shrine Buildings, Medallions and Plan of Mesched Ali, Niebuhr Print, 1780
€ 350
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1780
Mapmaker / artist
Carsten Niebuhr; directed by C. J. de Huyser
Publisher
S. J. Baalde, Amsterdam, and Barthelemy Wild, Utrecht
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-2-42
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. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Folding plate, original folds as issued. Slight wear at the top left corner. Nicks along the right edge.
About this sheet
An original antique copper engraving, published in 1780, a large folding plate gathering several subjects keyed by letter. No title is engraved in the margin; the inset plan at the upper right is lettered Mesched Ali.
C, at the lower left, shows a great walled court seen from above, its inner walls lined with arches, with a domed building flanked by small minarets set behind a long, many paned front with awnings and a tall single minaret rising beside it. A, at the bottom center, is a domed building between two minarets, seen from the front with steps leading up to its doorway. H, at the lower right, is a larger building with two onion domes, a third smaller dome and a minaret. B is a ground plan of an enclosure with numbered points and a scale lettered Dub: Schreed.. D and E are round medallions bearing bands of Arabic inscription, D around a plain ring and E around a many pointed star, and G is a lobed medallion filled with inscription. F is a sword with a curved blade split into two points. The inset plan shows the walled town of Mesched Ali with numbered features, hills around it, a compass rose, the words Báhhr Nedsjef at the upper right and a scale in Dubbele Schreeden.
The plate number Tab: XLII. is engraved at the upper right, and below the lower right corner is lettered C. J. de Huyser Direx 1778., Latin for "C. J. de Huyser directed it, 1778".
The plate comes from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, Tome Second, the French translation printed at Amsterdam by S. J. Baalde and at Utrecht by Barthelemy Wild, with the title page dated MDCCLXXX. 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. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Folding plate, original folds as issued. Slight wear at the top left corner. Nicks along the right edge.
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.
