View of Building I at Persepolis, Antique Niebuhr Print, 1780

This is an original antique copper engraving, published in 1780, from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's travels. The caption reads in Dutch Gezigt van het Gebouw I. Pl. XVIII. and in French Vûe de l'èdifice I. Pl. XVIII., meaning "View of the building I" of the plan on plate XVIII.

The ruined building stands as a field of separate stone doorways, window frames and wall piers on open ground. In the left center a large broken jamb carries two carved standing figures in long robes, facing right, one of them carrying a small vessel. Behind it, doorways and window openings with heavy lintels stand in a row toward the right, and at the far left a single doorway with a molded cornice rises above fallen blocks.

Smaller ruins are scattered along the horizon at the left, and broken slabs lie across the foreground. A low stone wall runs along the bottom of the view with a plant growing from it, and banks of cloud fill the sky above the ruins. The lower right margin is signed C. J de Huyser fec. 1778., and the plate number Tab: XXVIII. is engraved vertically at the upper left, outside the border.

The plate comes from the second volume, Tome Second, of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, Traduit de l'Allemand, published by S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and Barthelemy Wild at Utrecht, with the date MDCCLXXX, 1780, on its title page. Carsten 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. The account was first published in German at Copenhagen; this is the French translation printed in Amsterdam and Utrecht.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top. All four corners are present.

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