André Thevet Ottoman Banquet at Chalcedon – Original 1575 Woodcut

Description

Andre Thevet Chalcedon Woodcut of an Ottoman Meal

An original sixteenth-century woodcut published in André Thevet’s monumental La Cosmographie universelle, printed in Paris in 1575.

Known by its early French caption “Manière que les Turcs mange”, the composition depicts a group of Ottoman Turks sharing a communal meal outdoors.

The figures, dressed in sixteenth-century Ottoman garments and turbans, sit on the ground around shared dishes. Attendants approach with additional food and drink, while a wooded and mountainous landscape containing distant buildings completes the scene.

The illustration accompanies Thevet’s account of Chalcedon, the ancient city of Bithynia situated on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. Its location corresponds to present-day Kadıköy, a district of Istanbul, Turkey.

The reverse retains the original sixteenth-century French letterpress text. The passage mentions the port of Chalcedon, the Bosphorus, the Propontis and Constantinople, confirming that the print was originally part of a printed book leaf.

This is an authentic woodcut printed in 1575, not a later reproduction.

Details

• Author: André Thevet

• Work: La Cosmographie universelle

• Original caption: Manière que les Turcs mange

• Date: 1575

• Subject: Ottoman communal meal

• Location: Chalcedon, present-day Kadıköy, Istanbul

• Historical region: Bithynia

• Country: Turkey

• Technique: original woodcut

• Support: antique laid paper

• Reverse: original printed French text

• Sheet dimensions: 16.7 × 14 cm

• Image dimensions: 16.2 × 13.5 cm

Condition

Good condition considering the age of the sheet. A light diagonal brown bar or stain is visible, principally across the upper landscape.

The paper also displays minor spotting, small marks, tonal variations and natural age-related irregularities. The woodcut remains clear, detailed and visually attractive.

Please examine all photographs carefully, including the close views and the printed reverse, as they form an integral part of the condition description.