Antique Chinese Walled Enclosure and Triple Gateway Print, Ferrario, 1815

This is an original hand colored copper engraving, dated 1815, from Giulio Ferrario's Le Costume Ancien et Moderne (ancient and modern costume), showing a Chinese walled court with a triple gateway and stone statues. The plate has no engraved title or caption.

A wide paved court runs back to a long wall of dressed stone capped with red tiles. At the center stands a gatehouse of three round arched openings under a yellow tiled roof with green upturned ends and a small finial on the ridge. Trees show above the wall along its length. Rows of statues on square plinths line the court. At the left stand three robed figures in tall caps, a saddled horse and two seated animals, all colored in ochre and brown and casting long shadows across the paving. At the right two more robed figures stand on plinths against the wall. No living figure appears in the scene.

The plate number "40" is engraved at the upper right above the border, and the engraver signed below the border at the lower left: "L. Rossi". A small round blind stamp is pressed at the lower right corner of the plate mark, and an oval blind stamp sits in the lower left margin.

The plate comes from Le Costume Ancien et Moderne by Giulio Ferrario (1767 to 1847), a Milanese scholar and publisher. The work was a multi-volume illustrated survey of the customs of the peoples of the world, issued in parts in Italian and in French. The part wrapper issued with these plates closes with the imprint "MILAN, DE L'IMPRIMERIE DE L'EDITEUR, MDCCCXV" (Milan, from the publisher's press, 1815).

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners are present. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.