Interior of a Harem, Antique Orientalist Engraving by Allom, 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 W. H. Mote
Publisher
Peter Jackson, late Fisher, Son and Co., London and Paris
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
27 × 21 cm (10.6 × 8.3 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14186-1-25
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 bottom, left and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.
About this sheet
This original antique steel engraving shows Interior of a Harem, a plate from the first volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated, published in London by Peter Jackson about 1850. Four women in embroidered robes and jeweled headdresses in a harem chamber, one playing a long necked lute, a water pipe coiled on the floor beside the divan, a black eunuch standing in attendance and a wall of carved and painted arabesque behind.
This sheet was published in London about 1850 by Peter Jackson, late Fisher, Son and Company, in the first volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated. Thomas Allom traveled through Constantinople and Asia Minor making the original drawings, and the Reverend Robert Walsh, who had served as chaplain at the British embassy to the Porte, wrote the letterpress. The plates are steel engravings, a technique that holds a far finer line than copper and allowed the long print runs these illustrated travel books required. Each plate in the series carries the draftsman at the lower left and the engraver at the lower right, both printed inside the plate mark, with the English title in script below and a French translation beneath it on many sheets, which is how the publisher sold the work on both sides of the Channel. The fine tonal gradation is the work of the burin alone, with no aquatint or added wash.
The harem subject is the engine of nineteenth century Orientalist taste, and this is the central plate of the type in the series, a fully worked figure composition rather than a topographical view. Framed in gilt or in plain polished wood it suits a study, a library or a dining room, and it sits easily beside maps, marine prints and other nineteenth century travel material.
Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and top edges. Scattered light foxing 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.
