About this sheet
This is an original set of two antique steel engravings from the second volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated, published in London by Peter Jackson about 1850, sold together as a set and not available singly. The first sheet shows the Yedikule fortress at dusk, its towers and the Golden Gate standing black against a low sun, the land walls running off to the right and the Sea of Marmora lying pale beyond, with small figures among the broken ground below. The second sheet shows the land walls of Constantinople running away into the distance in their three lines, the towers broken and overgrown, fig trees and scrub rooted in the masonry and figures and grazing animals in the ditch below.
They are two original sheets sold together, and the set is never split. They come from the second volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated, drawn from nature by Thomas Allom with descriptions by the Reverend Robert Walsh and published in London by Peter Jackson at the Caxton Press about 1850. Every sheet is a steel engraving of the same size, printed without color as issued, with the draftsman lettered at the lower left, the engraver at the lower right and the publisher's imprint beneath the title.
Yedikule was built into the Theodosian land walls around the Roman Golden Gate and served the Ottomans as the state prison where foreign ambassadors were confined when their countries went to war with the Porte. The Theodosian walls held Constantinople for a thousand years and fell only to Mehmed the Second's cannon in 1453. Allom's view along the three lines of wall and ditch shows clearly how the defense was laid out. A matched group hung together reads as one piece of furniture on a wall rather than as several small pictures, and because the sheets are the same size they frame identically and line up without compromise. Framed alike in plain dark moldings with equal mounts they suit a hall, a stair, a study or a dining room.
Even age toning throughout. Marked handling soiling along the edges of both sheets. Light foxing in the margins of both sheets. All corners complete on every sheet.
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.
