Hexagonal Harbor Plan and Greek Lettered Tablet, Montfaucon, 1722

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, a double page folding plate from Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained, and Represented in Sculptures. At the upper left is the plan of a hexagonal basin ringed with buildings, entered by a channel of water, and below it rows of further buildings. The center and right are filled by a large carved tablet crowded with tiny figures in bands and panels: a walled city with fighting, warriors, chariots, a ship and many small scenes, with columns of close Greek lettering at the side. Along the foot are a roundel with three figures and two masks, a spearhead, two blades, a seated old man holding a scroll, a lettered arch, four coins, and three standing figures beside two large covered vessels on pedestals.

The captions read "Serlio." under the plan, "Fabreti." under the tablet and under the seated man, "Medaillon" twice, "Notre Cabinet", "Simeoni" under the arch and "Oiselius". The tablet is lettered in Greek, including ΙΛΙΟΥ ΠΕΡΣΙΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΣΤΗΣΙΧΟΡΟΝ ΤΡΩΙΚΟΣ, ΕΚΤΟΡΟΣ ΤΑΦΟΣ and ΑΧΙΛΛΕΩΣ ΣΗΜΑ. The arch inscription begins IMP. CÆS. DIVI NERVÆ F. NERVÆ TRAIANO OPT. AVG. GERMANICO DACICO, and the coins read AVGVSTI and PORT OST. The separate figures are numbered 1 to 4, with many small reference numbers on the tablet. The corners read "Vol. IV." at foot left, "Plate 46" at foot right and "Pag. 188" at top right.

Bernard de Montfaucon (1655 to 1741) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar whose L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures appeared in Paris in 1719. This English translation by David Humphreys was printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts in 1722. Volume four ends with shipping, and this sheet sets harbor works beside related objects copied from earlier publications, each with its source named beside it.

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