View of the Monastery at Mount Sinai from Point A, Antique Print, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate XLVII of the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie. The caption reads Gezigt van 't Klooster aan den Berg Sinaï van de plaats A. op de Plaat, XLIV. in Dutch and Vûe du Monastere à la Montagne de Sinaï du point A. marqué sur la Planche XLIV. in French: a view of the monastery at Mount Sinai from point A marked on plate XLIV.

The view is upright in format. A massive range of rocky peaks fills most of the picture, rising in three main summits under a sky of rolling clouds, the slopes cut into ridges and gullies by close hatching. At its foot, in the middle of the plate, stands the monastery, a high square enclosure of stone walls with towers at the corners and a small opening at ground level. To the right of the walls lies a garden behind a fence, its trees massed together with a few tall slender trees rising above them. In the left foreground a man leads a laden camel along a path across the open ground in front of the monastery.

No artist's or engraver's name is lettered on the plate. The plate number Tab: XLVII. is engraved at the upper right. Point A, from which the view is taken, is marked on the plan of the monastery's setting on plate XLIV.

The plate belongs to the first volume of Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, marked TOME PREMIER and Traduit de l'Allemand on its title page, which carries the imprint of S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and J. van Schoonhoven and Comp. at Utrecht and the date MDCCLXXVI. 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. Handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner.

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