Temple of Jupiter Ammon, Hieroglyphic Interior, Antique Aquatint, 1810

An original antique aquatint with original hand color, 1810, one of the views drawn by Luigi Mayer and published in London by Robert Bowyer. The caption engraved below the image reads "INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER AMMON."

The interior of a ruined temple, seen down a long chamber of massive stone blocks. The walls are covered with rows of hieroglyphs, and on the left wall bands of standing figures are carved in relief. The roof has partly fallen, so that sky shows between the stepped blocks at both sides, and great broken blocks lie across the floor.

A huge slab leans diagonally across the center of the chamber. At the far end a doorway opens on daylight, where men carrying spears stand. A man in a white turban sits among the fallen stones at the lower left, another stands by the leaning slab, and at the right a man leans over a large block.

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 1810. 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. The oracle temple of Jupiter Ammon, the Egyptian god Amun, stood in the Siwa oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt, which ancient writers counted as part of Libya.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left. Several larger brown marks.

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