Kaskerat with Clock Tower and Mosque, Antique Aquatint by Mayer, 1809

An original antique aquatint with original hand color, published in London in 1809, after a drawing by Luigi Mayer. The caption reads "KASKERAT.", the name of the place shown.

A rutted street leads into the town between timber framed houses. In the center a square stone clock tower with a clock face and a tall pointed roof crowned by a crescent rises above a tiled building and a large tree. To the left stand a domed mosque and its minaret, and a second minaret shows at the right. A horseman gallops along the street in the middle distance, a figure sits on the ground against the house at the left, and a man in a long yellow robe walks up the street toward a raised timber veranda at the right, where three men in turbans stand above a wooden stair.

The caption is engraved in open capitals below the image, and the imprint beneath it names R. Bowyer at 80 Pall Mall and the year 1809. No artist or engraver is named on the plate; the aquatints in this book are unsigned and are probably the work of William Watts.

The plate belongs to Views in the Ottoman Dominions, in Europe, in Asia, and some of the Mediterranean Islands, from the original drawings taken for Sir Robert Ainslie by Luigi Mayer, printed by T. Bensley for R. Bowyer in London in 1810 with 71 hand colored aquatint plates (Abbey, Travel II, 371; Tooley 321). Luigi Mayer (1755 to 1803) was an Italian born artist who worked in the Ottoman Empire for Sir Robert Ainslie, British ambassador at Constantinople from 1776 to 1792.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the top edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top. One larger brown mark.

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