Kirkclisia in Thrace, Antique Hand Colored Aquatint by Mayer, 1809

An original antique aquatint with original hand color, 1809, one of the views drawn by Luigi Mayer and published in London by Robert Bowyer. The caption engraved below the image reads "KIRKCLISIA."

A view of Kirkclisia across a wide open square. At the left stands a large house with timber galleries and an outside stair, with figures at the door and on the steps; men lean on a wooden railing in front of it. A man carrying a large basket on his back crosses the foreground.

Beyond a long wooden fence the town spreads out with a domed mosque and several minarets, under a mountain in the distance, and a rider crosses the ground in front of the fence. At the right a ruined arch stands beside an open shed with a thatched roof, where carts and figures can be seen.

No artist or engraver is named on the plate, and it carries no plate number. The caption is engraved in open capitals below the image, and beneath it a publication line in script gives the publisher Robert Bowyer, his address at 80 Pall Mall, and the date 1809. The plate comes from 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). In the book each plate was accompanied by a page of descriptive text in French and English. The plates are unsigned; the aquatint work is probably by William Watts. Luigi Mayer (1755 to 1803) was an Italian born artist who worked in the Ottoman Empire for Sir Robert Ainslie, British ambassador at Constantinople. Kirkclisia is the town now called Kirklareli, in the European part of Turkey.

The bottom edge is uneven in one place. Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom edge. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners complete.

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