Elephanta Cave Sculpture at Station 9, Antique Niebuhr Print, 1780

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1780, a carved relief from the cave temple on Elephanta. The caption reads Afbeelding der Figuuren by 9 op den platten Grond, Pl. III. in Dutch and Réprésentation des Figures près de 9 Sur le Plan, Pl. III. in French, meaning "Representation of the figures at 9 on the ground plan, plate III".

A single figure with many arms dominates the plate, shown from the thighs up with the legs broken off. It wears a tall headdress set against a round halo, large earrings and a heavy necklace, and its mouth is open. The two uppermost arms stretch out to either side and hold up a cloth like a canopy above the head. On the left one hand grasps a long straight sword and another holds a small human figure by the leg; on the right one hand rings a bell and another holds a shallow bowl. A serpent coils at the lower right of the body, and a long string of beads hangs from the shoulder across the body. Above the figure the cracked rock face is drawn in fine wavy lines. The numbers in the caption refer to the numbered positions on the ground plan of the cave temple at Elephanta, engraved as plate III (Tab. III) of the same volume.

No artist's or engraver's name is printed on this sheet. It is lettered "Tab. X." 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. Marked handling soiling along the bottom and left edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners are present. Several larger brown marks.

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