Nine Heads in Turbans, Fur Caps and a Tall Hat, Niebuhr Plate XXII, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XXII of volume 1 of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. The sheet has no engraved caption. It is lettered with its plate number and with the numerals 30 to 38 over the heads, and the subject is described here from what is drawn: nine men's heads, each in a different headdress.

The heads stand in three rows of three inside a double ruled border. Number 30, at the upper left, wears a wound turban from which a tall flared cylinder rises, and is shown in profile. Number 31 is a beardless young man in a small twisted turban, and number 32 a moustached man in a neatly wound turban with a knot at the crown. In the middle row, number 33 wears a tall fluted cap set in a turban and a full beard, while number 34, in profile, wears a tall plain cylindrical hat, with long hair falling straight down his back and a long beard. Number 35 wears a small striped turban with a tuft on top. In the bottom row, number 36 is a profile head in a striped turban with a small tuft, and numbers 37 and 38 wear tall caps of thick curled fur, one in profile and one full face. The men without beards wear moustaches, and the fur, the striped cloth and the hair are each given their own texture in the engraved line.

The plate number Tab. XXII. 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. Marked handling soiling along the bottom and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the top right corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom.

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