Dancing Girls and Their Musicians at Cairo, Antique Print, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XXVII of volume 1 of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. The caption reads, in Dutch and then in French, Afbeelding der Dansseressen en haarer Muzikanten te Káhira. and Représentation des Danseuses et de Leurs Musiciens à Káhira., meaning "Picture of the Dancing Women and Their Musicians at Cairo".

The scene is set outdoors on open ground under a cloudy sky, with a group of date palms at the right. In the middle two dancing women lean back with their arms raised high, small cymbals held in their fingers, their long robes swinging and sashes at the waist. To the left two women in long veils and wraps stand watching, one of them stretching out a hand toward the dancers. The musicians sit at the right. A veiled woman holds a round frame drum, and beside her a bearded man in a turban plays a stringed instrument held upright on a spike. In the right foreground another veiled figure sits on the ground with her back half turned, holding a long stemmed pipe whose bowl rests on the ground beside a small puff of smoke.

Under the lower left corner of the image is lettered "Baurenfeind, del." and under the lower right "C. F. Fritsch, fec." The plate number Tab: XXVII. is engraved upright along the right margin, beside the border.

The sheet comes from the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, the Tome Premier, translated from the German and issued at Amsterdam by S. J. Baalde and at Utrecht by J. van Schoonhoven and Comp., with the date MDCCLXXVI on its title page. 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. Handling soiling along the bottom and left edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the top right corner. Several larger brown marks.

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