DEVIC (Marc). DINET (Étienne). Antar. Arab heroic poem from - Lot 79

DEVIC (Marc). DINET (Étienne). Antar. Arab heroic poem from pre-Islamic times. A very fine copy of this superb orientalist illustration by Étienne Dinet, complete with handsome covers and charmingly bound in an orientalist binding by Carayon. Paris, H. Piazza, 1898. In-folio (33 × 26 cm), half midnight green morocco with corners, smooth spine decorated in the grotesque style, untrimmed, double covers preserved (Carayon). Illustrated with 142 color illustrations: 5 hors-texte including the frontispiece, 115 compositions playing with the text set in a brown-green fillet, 12 full-page Moorish ornaments for the titles and chapters, 8 fleurons or ornamental vignettes and 2 frames for the colophon and justification. Edition of 300 numbered copies on vélin des Vosges à la cuve watermarked "ANTAR", here no. 95. 'Antar (the valiant), also called 'Antara (courage in war), was a poet-warrior, member of the pre-Islamic tribe of 'Abs (v. 525-615). This legendary hero is supposed to be the author of 7 poems entitled al Mu'allaquat, the hanging odes, whether hung in the Kaabba in Mecca, as traditionally explained, or metaphorically in the minds of readers, like finery well put together, as other interpretations explain. The heroic deeds of this former slave are collected in a story, half real, half fictional, called the Sirat 'Antar, the most important novel of chivalry in Arab literature, said to have pre-Islamic origins. In this epic, 'Antar possesses all the qualities that Bedouins admire. His integrity, courage, intelligence, hospitality and conquests legitimize his accession as king of the Banu Abs tribe and his reign following that of Shaddad, his father, who had refused him because he was the offspring of his love affair with an Abyssinian slave girl, who had been a princess in his kingdom before his capture. This epic tale is attested from at least the 12th century and has remained popular to this day in Egypt and Syria. (source: Florence Somer). Étienne Dinet (1861-1929) was a French painter and lithographer who spent much of his life in Algeria. Renowned during his lifetime, he took the name Nasr ad Dine after converting to Islam. He was one of the leading exponents of Orientalist painting at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.