Antique Print of Chinese Transport, Sedan Chairs and a Wheelbarrow, 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 Chinese modes of transport. The plate has no engraved title or caption.

Three registers share the sheet. At the top, two bearers carry a passenger seated in a sling hung from a pole on their shoulders. Beside them a man in a purple coat carries a large bundle on a pole over his shoulder, and a man in a straw hat and blue coat rests a carrying pole with two hanging boxes on an upright staff. In the middle, a passenger in pink sits holding a fan in a single wheeled barrow, pushed from behind by a man in green and hauled from the front by a man in blue on a rope. At the foot, a covered two wheeled cart with long shafts stands above two closed sedan chairs with latticed sides and fringed roofs topped by knob finials, their carrying poles in place.

The plate number "74" is engraved at the upper right above the border, and the engraver signed inside the border at the lower left of the lowest register: "A. Rancati f." A small round blind stamp is pressed at the lower right corner of the plate mark, and an oval blind stamp sits in the right 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).

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. Foxing over much of the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom and left. Several larger brown marks.

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