Main Mosque at Ghazni, Great Dome and Four Minarets, 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-00114-16
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
Minor nicks along the bottom edge. Small loss or rounding to the bottom left corner. Even age toning, lightly soiled along the bottom edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin.
About this sheet
An original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered "HOOFD-MOSKEE TE GHIZNEE." A massive domed building rises in the center, its great shallow dome ringed with windows and supported by half domes and heavy buttresses, with four tall pencil-shaped minarets around it. At the right stands a square pavilion with a broad overhanging roof and a small dome, and low walls and domed annexes line the open square in front, with cypresses and palms beyond. In the left foreground a group of men in turbans and long robes, some holding staffs, gathers beside a seated figure on a low platform, and other figures walk across the square.
The plate is lettered below the image in Dutch: "HOOFD-MOSKEE TE GHIZNEE.", which translates as "Main mosque at Ghazni". 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 named on the plate.
The plate comes from Britsch-Indië, beschreven naar de nieuwste bronnen (British India, described from the newest sources) by A. van Otterloo, published in Amsterdam by Gebroeders Kraay in 1859. The book is the first part, or Eerste Deel, of the publisher's series Vreemde Landen en Volken (Foreign Lands and Peoples), and its title page announces twenty-four steel engravings and a map. Steel plates held fine, even lines through long print runs, which suited illustrated books of this kind.
The great dome, the half domes and the four slender minarets make a strong silhouette against the pale sky. The plate suits a study or a group of views of mosques and Islamic architecture.
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.
