This original poster designed by Roger Broders (1883-1953) was commissioned by Simplon Orient Express in 1931 to promote the London-Baghdad line to the British public. Printed as a lithograph by Lucien Serre in Paris, its blues and tawny colours capture the spectacular light and shade of the Ctesiphon City Arch. The monument is 30-metres tall and is the oldest of its kind dating from the 6th century AD. This vintage poster is the artist’s second work for the Orient-Express after the London - Constantinople poster which offers a starker contrast and greater detail than this more figurative and mysterious poster. He liked to surprise the viewer and was a keen orientalist, a style which is at its most prominent in his first two illustrations, the remarkable Algiers and Tunis posters dating from 1920.