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Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look, drawn to its real size; it is sold unframed unless the description says otherwise.
Houses of Worship
Elephanta Cave Sculpture at Station 4, Antique Niebuhr Print, 1780
Anno Domini MDCCLXXX1780
£280
$370 · €330
Original print, not a reproduction
Ships worldwide from the Netherlands, flat or rolled, insured and tracked. 14-day returns.
- Date
- 1780
- Technique
- Copper engraving
- Coloring
- Uncolored
- Condition
- Good. Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner.
- Faith
- Hinduism
- Collection
- Houses of Worship
- Era
- 1700 to 1799, Mortier, Picart and the illustrated Bible
- Stock no.
- BG-14407-2-6
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.
This is an original antique copper engraving from 1780, a carved relief panel from the cave temple on Elephanta. The caption reads Afbeelding der Figuuren by 4 op den Platten Grond Pl. III. in Dutch and Réprésentation des Figures prés de 4 sur le Plan Pl. III. in French, meaning "Representation of the figures at 4 on the ground plan, plate III".
The center of the panel is taken by a large figure in a tall, ornamented headdress, shown from the hips up with several arms. One raised hand grips a serpent, another holds a round shield, and a lower arm rests on the head of a bull at the left. Below the figure the rock is broken away, drawn in loose, ragged hatching. Around it the relief is crowded with smaller figures. Two groups float across the top of the panel; at the upper left a figure with three faces sits on a curved base carved with birds; at the left a standing figure holds a trident; at the right one figure rides on the shoulders of another; and at the lower right a woman carries a covered dish. The numbers in the caption refer to the numbered positions on the ground plan of the cave temple at Elephanta, engraved as plate III (Tab. III) of the same volume.
The plate is signed "Fritschius, fec." below the lower right corner of the border, and lettered "Tab. VI." at the upper right.
The plate comes from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, the French translation printed for S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and Barthelemy Wild at Utrecht; the title page of the volume reads TOME SECOND and is dated MDCCLXXX. The account was first published in German at Copenhagen, and this is the French translation printed in Amsterdam and Utrecht. Carsten Niebuhr (1733 to 1815) was a German born surveyor in Danish service and the only member of the Danish expedition to Arabia (1761 to 1767), sent by King Frederick V of Denmark, to return alive.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner.
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.
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