Antique View of a Chinese Burial Ground with Tomb Mounds, 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 burial ground with tomb mounds. The plate has no engraved title or caption.

The view opens across rough grass to a walled terrace of dressed stone at the center, reached by a broad flight of steps. Two small square pavilions with pyramid roofs stand at the corners of the terrace, with a low round structure between them. Tall poplars and other trees fill the middle distance on both sides. At the right two large green conical mounds stand inside curved masonry walls, the nearer wall drawn open at the front. At the left are three long low buildings of plain planks under shallow roofs. On the path in the foreground a figure in a crimson robe stands holding a small child by the hand.

The engraver's name, L. Rossi, is engraved inside the image on the end of the curved wall at the lower right. No plate number is visible in the upper margin of this sheet. A small round blind stamp is pressed at the lower right corner of the plate mark, and an oval blind stamp is pressed in the upper 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 left, right and top edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners are present. Several larger brown marks.

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