Antique print showing the Great Mosque in Bantam. Entitled: JAVA. Javaansche tempel naby Bantam / Temple Javanais pres du Bantam.
One of the oldest surviving mosques in Java, its architecture captivated visitors of all faiths. Being a port town, Bantam was host to multiple cultures and it is reflected in the design of the mosque: the main building in Javanese style, the minaret has Chinese influence, and a latter addition features Dutch design. The building was completed in 1566, the minaret added around 1632. Today, the mosque still remains in excellent condition and used for daily and Friday prayers.
This original lithograph originates from: 'Gezigten uit Nederlands Indie, naar de natuur geteekend en beschreven.', by C.W.M. van de Velde, published in Amsterdam, Frans Buffa en Zonen (1844-1845). A very beautiful and luxuriously illustrated work on Indonesia.
Artists and Engravers: Charles William Meredith van de Velde (1818-1898) was a Dutch Navy officer, painter and mercenary. Van de Velde drew the drawings whilst he was a midshipman on the ZM Triton and later when he was working in Batavia for the Commission for the Improvement of Maps and Charts of Indonesia. He had the ambition to reproduce the beauty of Indonesian landscapes, in which he was inspired by the artists and other members of the French scientific expedition under Dumont D'Urville. Frans Buffa en Zonen was at that time the most famous lithographic workshop in Amsterdam. All 50 plates were carefully lithographed by the renowned Belgian lithographer Paulus Lauters (1806-1876), who also had worked for Goubau's lithographic printing office in Brussels. In 1836, when the Royal School for Engraving was founded by Antoine Dewasme at Brussels, Lauters was appointed professor of drawing.
A beautiful and detailed crayon style lithograph on a vellin type paper. Some age-related toning. Blank verso. Please study the image carefully.
(The image shown of this print is created from separate scans joined together, and might be joined imperfectly at some parts. We are happy to send you photographs if the complete sheet)
