Numbered Study of Eastern Turbans and Caps, Antique Print, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XXI of volume 1 of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. No caption is engraved on the sheet; it is lettered only with its plate number and with the numerals 21 to 29 above the heads, so the subject is described from the drawing: nine bearded men, each in a different turban or cap.

The heads are arranged in three rows of three inside a double ruled border. In the top row, number 21 wears a very large wound turban, number 22 a turban banded with a lattice pattern under a round, dotted crown, and number 23 a broad wound turban open at the top. In the middle row the turbans are worn around tall caps: a cap quilted in a diamond pattern (24), a tall ribbed cap ending in a small knob (25) and a tapering cap dotted all over (26). The bottom row is the most striking. Number 27 is shown in profile in a tall, plain cylindrical cap worn without a turban; number 28 has a tall tapering cap rising from a wound turban; and number 29 wears a turban from which a long curved, horn-like projection sweeps upward and back. Every man is bearded, and the beards are drawn as carefully as the headdresses, from short clipped beards to long flowing ones.

The plate number Tab. XXI. 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 top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top.

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