Lucknow, State Elephant with Canopied Howdah, Antique Steel Engraving, 1859
€ 220
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1859
Mapmaker / artist
Published by Gebroeders Kraay
Publisher
Gebroeders Kraay, Amsterdam
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-00114-11
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
Complete sheet, edges straight and without nicks. Even age toning, lightly soiled along the bottom and right edges. No foxing noted in the margins.
About this sheet
An original antique steel engraving, uncolored, titled "LUCKNOW." A great elephant fills the center of the picture, draped in a fringed and embroidered cloth and carrying a howdah with two domed, fringed canopies and a flat fringed awning on tall poles. Its mahout sits on its neck holding a goad, and an attendant with a spear stands at its trunk. Around it are more spearmen, a figure seated at the right with a round shield, and a man under a parasol on the steps of a building at the left. In the background a second elephant with riders passes along a wall, beyond which rise palm trees and a mosque with bulbous domes and tall minarets. A clouded sky spreads above.
The plate is lettered below the image in Dutch: "LUCKNOW.", which translates as "Lucknow". Beneath the caption, in a small script, is the publisher's imprint "Uitg. Gebrs Kraaÿ, Amsterdam.", short for uitgegeven (published) by the Kraay brothers of Amsterdam. No artist or engraver is legibly named; only a faint, unreadable trace of script shows below the lower right corner of the image.
It was issued in 1859 in A. van Otterloo's Britsch-Indië, beschreven naar de nieuwste bronnen, published in Amsterdam by Gebroeders Kraay as the opening volume of their series Vreemde Landen en Volken (Foreign Lands and Peoples). The title page describes the book as illustrated with twenty-four steel engravings and a map, and each view carries its own Dutch caption and the Kraay imprint.
Lucknow was the capital of the kingdom of Awadh and the scene of the long siege of 1857. The large, finely shaded elephant makes this a striking single image and a natural favorite for a child's room or a study.
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.
