Men's Caps and Women's Headdresses with a Veiled Head, Niebuhr, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XXIII of volume 1 of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. No caption is engraved on the sheet. The lettering is limited to the plate number and the numerals 39 to 48 over the heads, so the subject is described from the drawing: ten heads, six of men in tall caps and four of women in hats and veils.

The top two rows show men. Number 39 wears a round cap of thick fur with a small knob at the crown, number 40 a tall cap with a fur band, and number 41 a tall cap that opens into stiff upright points. Number 42 wears a short fluted cap set in a turban, number 43 a very tall fluted cap seen in profile, and number 44 a tall cap dotted all over and wrapped at the base in a turban. All six men wear moustaches. The bottom row is given to women. Number 45 is seen from behind in a cylindrical cap with a wide, flat top, tied under the chin, with two long braids hanging down the back; number 46 wears a tall cone shaped cap tied under the chin; number 47, in profile, wears a broad flat disc of a hat tied under the chin over long hair, with two long braids falling well below the shoulder. Number 48 is veiled: a hood frames the face, a long cloth hangs from below the eyes over the mouth and chest, and a large ring hangs at one side of the face.

The plate number Tab: XXIII. is engraved at the upper right, above the border. No artist's or engraver's name is lettered on this sheet, and the lower margin is blank.

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.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom and right 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.