Chris Beetles Gallery

(click image to enlarge)

The Roc's Egg

Edmund Dulac (1882-1953)

Price

£12,500

Signed

Signed and dated 1906

Medium

Watercolour

Dimensions

9 x 8 ¾ inches

Provenance

Luke Gertler Collection

Exhibited

The Leicester Galleries, London, December 1907, no 27;
'The Illustrators: The British Art of Illustration 1791-2024', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, November 2024-January 2025, no 82

It is thought that Sinbad’s adventures were based on the experiences of merchants from Basra (Iraq) who, in the 9th century perilously traded with the East Indies and China.
In the course of his seven voyages around the seas of eastern Africa and southern Asia, Sinbad encounters magical kingdoms and fantastical monsters. ‘The Roc’s Egg’ is from Sinbad’s fifth voyage.
These stories form a latter part of the Arabian folktales, known in Britain, as the Arabian Nights. Dulac, one of the finest Gift Book illustrators at the turn of the 20th century, contributed well over 50 illustrations to the editions (at least 12) first published in 1907 by Hodder & Stoughton.
This illustration is very likely to have been from one of these editions.