A Bread Seller of Jeddah, Antique Niebuhr Costume Print, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate LVII of the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's account of his travels in Arabia. The caption in the lower margin reads Afbeelding van een Vrouwspersoon te Dsjidda, welk Brood verkoopt. in Dutch and Figure d'une Femme de Dsjidda, qui vend du Pain. in French, both meaning "Figure of a woman of Jeddah who sells bread".

The woman sits cross-legged on a dark cloth spread on the open ground, a long cloak drawn over her head and falling open over her bare chest. Her face is covered by a veil below the eyes, and in her right hand she holds up a flat, paddle shaped object. In front of her the round flat loaves she sells are laid out in a low heap on the cloth. To the left a large square shade of cloth, stretched on crossed sticks, is raised on a tripod of long poles to keep off the sun, with one pole reaching down to the ground in front of her. Behind lies a bare plain with low rocky hills and a wide clouded sky; tufts of grass, leafy plants and stones fill the foreground.

The lower margin is lettered Baurenfeind, del. at the left and C.J. de Huyser fecit. at the right, naming the draftsman and the engraver. The plate number Tab. LVII. is engraved at the upper right.

The plate comes from the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, Traduit de l'Allemand (translated from the German), published A Amsterdam, chez S. J. Baalde and A Utrecht, chez J. van Schoonhoven & Comp., with the date MDCCLXXVI (1776) on the title page. 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. The expedition's artist, Georg Wilhelm Baurenfeind, died at sea in 1763.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom edge. Foxing over much of the margin. Several larger brown marks. All four corners are present.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.