ISTANBUL GRAND BAZAAR MARKET SHOPS ARCHED STREETS ~ Old 1839 Art Print Engraving

Description: GREAT AVENUE IN THE TCHARTCHI Artist: W. H. Bartlett ____________ Engraver: H. Griffiths CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ORNAMENTAL MIDDLE EASTERN PRINTS LIKE THIS ONE!! PRINT DATE: This engraving was printed in 1839; it is not a modern reproduction in any way. PRINT SIZE: Overall print size is 7 x 10 inches, image size is 4 3/4 by 7 1/4 inches. PRINT CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. Paper is quality woven rag stock paper. SHIPPING: Buyer to pay shipping, domestic orders receive priority mail, international orders receive regular air mail unless otherwise asked for. We take a variety of payment options. Full payment details will be in our email after auction close. We pack properly to protect your item! PRINT DESCRIPTION : The Bazars of Constantinople have ever been to home-staying Europeans as a vision of the " Arabian Niglits ;" travellers have lost themselves in hyperbole in their descriptions of them ; and the antique glories of the Atmeidan, and even the solemn grandeur of St. Sophia, do not subject the returned pilgrim to half the questioning curiosity which is elicited by the great exchange of the City of the Three Seas. In by-past years, ere " the schoolmaster was abroad," the chubby urchins of half the remote villages in England believed that the dust of London was gold-dust, and its pavements silver; and even now, in like manner, there are many individuals to be found, who almost persist in believing that the Bazars of Stamboul are as sparkling and gorgeous as the enchanted garden of Aladdin; and yet nothing can be further from the fact. The interest of the Tcharchi exists in its great extent, its peculiar arrangement, and the picturesque effects constantly produced by the shifting groups who people it, and whose diversity of costume, countenance, and national character, tends to arouse the admiration and curiosity of every visitor. It must not be imagined that the bazars of the East are vast apartments filled with rows of trim counters, overstrewn with toys and trinkets, and all the gaud and glitter which are the charm of such lounging places in London. There is no prettiness in the great commercial mart of the Moslems ; their Tcharchi is composed of a cluster of streets, of such extent and number as to resemble a small covered town, the roof being supported by arches of solid masonry. A narrow gallery, slightly fenced by a wooden rail, occasionally connects these arches : and it is extraordinary to look dovra from one of them upon the changeful and motley crowd below ; nor is it, perhaps, less singular to the stranger, when he has gained this giddy elevation, to find himself surrounded by numbers of doves, whom his vicinity fails to disturb, and who appear to be so habituated to human contact and human turmoil, and to have suffered both so long with impunity, as to have become regardless alike of the one and the other. Every avenue of the bazar is appropriated to a particular branch of commerce; thus, in the street kno\vn as the Bezenstein, the two ranges of counters are occupied by jewellers, and are placed on a raised wooden platform, where the merchants spread their carpets, and make their calculations on strips of a strong yellowish paper, resembling parchment, that they rest against their knee; while, without withdrawing the chibouque from their lips, they dip their reed pen into an ink-bottle, nestled amid the folds of the shawl about their waist, and thus gravely await their customers. Beyond the platform is a strong-room, of which the door is made fast ; for many of them contain some of the most costly gems in the world, particularly pearls, turquoises, and brilliants ; although the dingy and ill-supplied glass-cases on the counters would lead a stranger to imagine that nothing rare or curious was to be met with in the Bezenstein : but let the keen and quick-sighted dealers (who are almost entirely Armenians) see a prospect of securing a good customer, and the door of the inner apartment once thrown back, the eye must be steady indeed that is not dazzled by the mass of jewels which surround it. The drinking-cups, lipped with gems; tushees, or rosaries, where every bead is a jewel ; clusters of diamonds in fanciful devices, for the turbans of the young beauties of the harem ; aigrettes for the caps of the nobles ; housings for the Arab steeds of the Pashas, stiff with pearls and gold rings, chains, and stars;—it were idle, in short, to attempt a recapitulation of the treasures of the Bezenstein. The avenue of the money-changers is gloomy and uninviting, save to those who can feel a pleasiu:e in listening to the ring of the precious metals, which goes on hour after hour, as the solemn-looking bankers pass heaps of coin, or bars of unwrought gold, from scale to scale, to test their weight and quality. This branch of commerce, also, is almost entirely monopolised by Armenians, many of the principal men of that nation resident at Constantinople being sarafs, or bankers to the different Pashas, and remarkable for their high principle and honesty. There are few Turkish money-changers,—as the Osmanlis are not naturally speculative in their commercial undertakings, and prefer a less uncertain and anxious occupation,—and still fewer Greeks; I believe, simply from the difficulty they find in obtaining clients. The great mass of Constantinopolitan bankers are, consequently, Armenians and Jews, and many of the latter are highly respectable and trustworthy ; the interests of their employers being further ensured from the known extent of their wealth, and the constant vigilance which is exercised AN EXTREMELY RARE PRINT ! VERY HARD TO FIND!

Price: 19.99 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-11-12T21:05:39.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.95 USD