Tuareg War Chief of the Sahara, Antique Hand-Colored Costume Print, 1854

Tuareg War Chief of the Sahara, an original antique hand colored print of 1854 from the second volume of Heinrich Berghaus's work on the peoples of the world in its Dutch edition. The plate is captioned in Dutch KRIJGSBEVELHEBBER BIJ DE TUARIKS., which reads in English as war commander among the Tuareg. The figure, a Tuareg commander, is shown standing and armed. The coloring is applied by hand over a printed outline.

He faces the viewer at full length, his face veiled below the eyes with a white cloth that also covers his head under a large red turban. Over a dark central panel he wears a wide outer garment striped in red, green and yellow, with deep blue sleeves, very full blue trousers and yellow slippers. A long spear with a ringed shaft stands in his right hand, its point resting on the ground at left. A sword in a red and yellow scabbard hangs diagonally across his body from a cross belt, and two decorated, gourd-shaped containers in yellow, red and blue hang at his right side, with red pouches on the belt at his waist.

The caption is the only lettering on the sheet. No artist, lithographer or printer is named on the plate, and it carries no plate number. The figure stands on the plain paper of the page with no frame line, and the caption is printed in small capitals below.

The plate comes from the second volume of De Volken van den Aardbodem, the Dutch edition of Heinrich Berghaus's illustrated work on the peoples of the world, translated from the German by M. J. van Oven and published at Gorinchem by J. Noorduyn en Zoon in 1854. The title page of the volume announces 120 extra fine plates colored after nature. Berghaus was a German geographer, best known for his Physikalischer Atlas. The Tuareg are a Berber people of the central Sahara, and their men traditionally wear the face veil shown here.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners read as present in the scan. Several larger brown marks.

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