An Arab Woman of the Coffee Mountains, Antique Print, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate LXIV of the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's account of his travels in Arabia. The caption reads Afbeelding eener Arabierinn' van het Koffy Gebergte. in Dutch and Figure d'une Femme Arabe, des Montagnes, qui produisent le Caffé. in French, meaning "Figure of an Arab woman of the mountains that produce coffee".

The woman walks barefoot toward the viewer along a path through hilly country. She wears a long tunic of checked cloth with wide sleeves, gathered at the waist by a sash and decorated with an embroidered square on the skirt, over checked trousers with an embroidered band at the ankle. On her head is an embroidered cap with a flower at the side, and she wears hoop earrings and several long strings of beads, which she holds with her left hand. A large rounded vessel is slung on her back, its neck showing over her right shoulder, and her right hand reaches out at the left. Rocky slopes and a valley lie behind her, with leafy plants and a flower in the foreground.

The lower margin is lettered Baurenfeind, del. at the left and C. F. Fritsch, fecit. at the right. The plate number Tab: LXIV. 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 and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left and top left corners. One larger brown mark.

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