Entrance to the Divan at Constantinople, Antique Seraglio View, circa 1850
€ 260
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1850
Mapmaker / artist
Thomas Allom (after); engraved by F. W. Topham
Publisher
Peter Jackson, late Fisher, Son and Co., London and Paris
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
21 × 27 cm (8.3 × 10.6 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14186-1-29
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
Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete.
About this sheet
This original antique steel engraving shows Entrance to the Divan at Constantinople, a plate from the first volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated, published in London by Peter Jackson about 1850. The gate of the Divan in the second court of the Seraglio, its deep lead roof and painted panels rising over the arch, mounted officers and guards passing through, a great octagonal pavilion at the right and the famous street dogs sprawled across the paving.
The engraving belongs to Peter Jackson's issue of the Allom and Walsh Turkish Empire Illustrated, printed at the Caxton Press in London about 1850 from plates first cut for Fisher's Illustrations of Constantinople and its Environs. Allom was an architect as well as a topographical draftsman, which is why his buildings are measured rather than merely picturesque, and the steel engravers who worked up his drawings were the best in London. Steel engraving was introduced in the eighteen twenties and is what made illustrated travel books of this scale possible, because a steel plate will yield many thousands of impressions without the softening that copper suffers after a few hundred. The result is the very fine close worked line seen here, particularly in the skies and in the water, and an impression that stays crisp across the whole edition.
The Divan was the council chamber of the empire, where the viziers sat and foreign envoys were received, and the dogs in the foreground are the detail every traveler to Constantinople wrote home about, so the plate carries both the state and the street. It frames well on its own over a desk or a chest, and it is equally at home in a group with other Ottoman and Levantine views, where the uniform plate size of the series makes an even wall.
Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete.
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.
