Man in a Turban within a Stone Oval, Copper Engraved Portrait, circa 1750
€ 240
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1750
Mapmaker / artist
Unsigned copper engraving (trimmed, credits not present)
Publisher
Not named on the sheet
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
34 × 24 cm (13.4 × 9.4 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14343-70
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
Good condition for its age. Trimmed to the image, without margins; small nick at the upper edge and light creasing to the upper right corner. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
An original eighteenth century copper engraved portrait of a man in a turban, framed in a feigned stone oval above a plinth. The sheet has been trimmed to the image, so no title, sitter's name or engraver's credit survives, and the print is offered for the quality of the engraving and the character of the face.
The sitter is shown half length, turned slightly to the right with his eyes on the viewer, wearing a loosely wound turban, a shirt open at the neck and a voluminous silk gown drawn around the shoulders. The informal turban and gown were the dress in which artists, scholars and men of letters chose to be painted at home in the first half of the eighteenth century. The oval is cut from blocks of stone with visible joints and small cracks, set against a masonry wall and resting on a projecting ledge with a plain tablet below.
The engraver has worked the gown in long swelling lines that catch the sheen of the silk, the face in fine dots and short flicks, and the stonework in regular horizontal hatching, the classic vocabulary of the French school of portrait engraving. Prints of this kind were usually made after a painted portrait, and the feigned stone frame and plinth follow the pattern of engraved portraits issued in Paris for academicians and collectors.
Even without its lettering this is a strong and handsome impression, rich in tone and large in scale, and the turbaned sitter has a frank and engaging presence. It would frame well with a wide mat in a library, a study or a group of eighteenth century portraits.
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.
