An Ox Carriage and Two Standing Figures, Antique Niebuhr Print, 1780

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1780, plate XII of the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's travels. The plate carries no caption; its three scenes are keyed only by the capital letters A, B and C, engraved in each panel.

The large lower panel, A, shows a light two wheeled carriage drawn by a pair of oxen yoked side by side. The driver sits forward on the shaft and raises a long whip, and behind him the carriage has a raised seat with a cylindrical bolster under a tall, round topped canopy on slender posts, crowned with a finial. The scene is set on open ground with a low bank of plants at the left. The two upper panels each show a single standing figure. In B, at the left, a man in a turban and a long wrapped robe tied with a sash stands in profile, resting his hand on the hilt of a curved sword whose point touches the ground; he wears shoes with upturned toes. In C, at the right, a bare chested man in short drawers stands facing out under a tall woven hood that covers his head and falls to his knees at the back.

The plate is signed "Th. Koning, sculps." below the lower right corner of the border, and lettered "Tab. XII." 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, left and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom and right.

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