Lear visited Dakkeh on his third and last visit to Egypt early in 1867 on his way back down the Nile from the Second Cataract. It is sixty-six miles upstream from Philae and was the ancient Per-Selket, 'House of the Goddess Selket'; the present form of the temple dates mainly from the time of the Romans.
Lear had arrived the evening before, dating and numbering another drawing of the temple '6.15pm Feby 14 1867' and '(475)'; the composition is similar to that of the present drawing but the light falls from the other direction (3¼ x 10in. sold Sotheby's, 19 February 1981, lot 231, repr.). Lear made a finished drawing based on the dawn view (6¾ x 14½in., sold Sotheby's, 12 July 1984, lot 175, repr.)