Oared Galleys and Horse Transports from Trajan's Column, 1722

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, a double page folding plate from Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained, and Represented in Sculptures. The large upper scene shows boats on the water before an arched gateway with a seated figure and a small statue of a horse and chariot. A man with a long oar stands in a boat with a cabin and sacks; three horses stand in another boat with a rower; and a long galley carries two cloaked men seated at the stern and a crew of rowers. At the right a man gestures from a further boat while men carry loads ashore. Below, a second relief shows a galley with a cabin, banked rowers, standing figures and a sea creature in the waves, and two smaller panels show oared warships with towers on their decks, crewed by armed men.

The captions read "Trajan's Pillar" under the upper scene and again under the lower left relief, and "D Emanuel Marti" under the two panels of towered warships. The figures are numbered 1, 2, 3 and 3. The corners read "Vol I V" at foot left, "Plate 45" at foot right and "Page 155" at top right.

"Trajan's Pillar" is Trajan's Column in Rome. Bernard de Montfaucon (1655 to 1741) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar, and his L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures appeared in Paris in 1719. This English translation by David Humphreys was printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts in 1722. Volume four ends with shipping, and this sheet belongs to that section.

The long horizontal composition suits a wide wall.

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