Audience with the Imam of Sana in Yemen, Antique Print, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate LXIX of the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's account of his travels in Arabia. The caption reads Voorstelling van een Gehoor by den Imâm te Saná. in Dutch and Répresentation de l'Audience aupres de l'Imâm de Saná. in French, meaning "Representation of an audience with the Imam at Sana".

The scene is a tall, bare hall drawn in steep perspective, its high walls of squared stone pierced by a few small windows. Much of the upper half is taken up by the flat ceiling, in which a large oval opening lets in light through a grille, one side of it brightly lit. At the far end the Imam sits cross-legged on cushions on a raised platform. In front of him a fountain sends up a tall jet from a round basin on the floor. Attendants stand behind low railings on platforms at either side of him, and two long rows of men in turbans and long robes stand along the left and right walls in the foreground, facing inward.

The lower margin is lettered P. Cramer, del: at the left and C. Philips Jz: direx. f. at the right, naming the draftsman and the engraver who directed the work. The plate number Tab: LXIX. 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 account was first published in German at Copenhagen; this is the French translation printed in Amsterdam and Utrecht.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners are present.

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