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 sheet shows the vast underground cistern of Bin-bir-derek, rank after rank of slender columns carrying low brick vaults into the dark, with silk twisters at work by lamplight among the piers and a shaft of daylight dropping from an opening far above. The sheet shows the flooded Basilica Cistern below Constantinople, forests of columns carrying brick vaults away into the dark, a small boat being poled between the piers by torchlight and the reflected flame running across the black water.
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.
The Binbirdirek is the second largest Byzantine cistern under Constantinople, built in the fourth century and in Allom's day drained and let out to silk twisters, whose wheels and lamps are the figures in this plate. It is a rare record of an ancient structure in industrial use. The Yerebatan Sarayi, the sunken palace, is the largest Byzantine cistern under the city and was reached in Allom's day only by boat with torches, exactly as the plate shows. With the Bin-bir-derek plate it makes the pair of underground subjects that collectors of the series look for. 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.
