Cairo and Joseph's Well
Cairo and Joseph's Well
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The artwork
In figure IV, bottom right, an ox looks out above a large wooden wheel: it is at work in Joseph's Well, cut into the rock of the Cairo Citadel to a depth of more than eighty metres. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.
- Cairo on the Nile, the Citadel and Joseph's Well in four views.
- In the large format it gives character to a corridor or a kitchen.
- A gift for anyone who has been to Egypt or dreams of going.
The Joseph of the name is Saladin, whose birth name was Yusuf, the Arabic for Joseph, and who began the Citadel in 1176. The well was dug by his trusted Qaraqush in two sections: a spiral ramp winds around the upper one, and the oxen walked down it to the middle of the well to turn the wheel that lifted water from the bottom; a second wheel at the top brought it up to the surface. The text engraved on the plate describes exactly this mechanism, and is a little generous about the depth: three hundred feet, almost a hundred metres.
This is plate 6 of the sixth volume of the Atlas Historique, the one on Africa, printed in Amsterdam in 1719 and attributed to Henri Abraham Châtelain: a copper engraving with four views and two columns of French text. At the top, Cairo stretches along the Nile among minarets and sailing boats. Next to the well is the prison of Joseph, this time the Joseph of the Bible: tradition held it to be the place where he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's baker and cupbearer, and according to the text it was still in use as a prison. The original sheet is kept in the David Rumsey Map Collection.
In a kitchen or a bright hallway, it is a gift for anyone who has been to Egypt or dreams of going. And down there, bottom right, the ox keeps turning its wheel.
Unique quality material
Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 40 x 60 cm (15.7 x 23.6 in)
With frame: 42 x 62 cm (16.5 x 24.4 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass
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