Egyptian Woman in a Harem in Cairo [A single Lithographic Print from ORIENTAL ALBUM, Characters, Costumes and Mode of Life, in the Valley of the Nile]

A fine handcoloured lithograph from the first folio edition. An especially beautiful plate after the drawings by E. Prisse d?Avennes done on stone by Bureau and printed by Lemercier in Paris and coloured by hand. A 13.75 by 10 inch captioned image, on a single folio sheet measuring 21.5 by 14.25 inches, now protected in a 26 by 19 inch black boards glazed with mylar. A beautifully preserved folio plate, the colours vivid and strong, all very clean and fresh.

Edizione: a wonderful plate of an egyptian harem lady from the famous oriental album. the woman is reclined on a settee, also in the view are her slippers, a mirror, vase of flowers, a fan and a tall hookah. ?mile prisse d'avennes was a leading french archaeologist, egyptologist, artist, architect and writer. an artist of consummate skill, french to the bone, he was of british blood. he embraced islam and took the name edris-effendi. by nature contentious, he alienated colleagues, yet succored the sick and the poor. of the hundreds of 19th-century orientalists - those western artists, scholars and writers who gravitated to the islamic world following napoleon's invasion of egypt in 1798 -few possessed so prodigious an intellect, such a trove of talents, so insatiable a curiosity or so passionate a commitment to record the historical and artistic patrimony of egypt and islam. he succeeded brilliantly, wherever his work took him, the insatiably curious young man eagerly tramped through ruins, drew maps and plans, sketched and wrote descriptive accounts of both ancient cities and modern villages.