Antique View of a Chinese Hall with a Yellow Tiled Roof, 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 hall within a walled compound. The plate has no engraved title or caption.

A large hall stands on a raised stone platform within a walled compound, its double roof covered in bright yellow tiles above walls of salmon pink columns and pale blue panels, with a ramp of steps at the front. A fence of upright slats on a low wall encloses it, opened by a gatehouse with a green roof, a red panel and latticed blue doors, and by a smaller green roofed gate at the left. Palms grow inside the enclosure at the left and beyond the wall at the right, where two figures walk in the court. Behind, open ground runs back to a lake fringed with palms and a range of pale hills. In the foreground two men in red carry a small chest slung from a pole, a single figure walks at the left, three men recline on the ground at the right and a covered urn stands by the wall.

The plate number "85." is engraved at the upper right above the border, and the engraver signed inside the border at the lower left: "L. Bigatti f.e". 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 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).

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left and top left corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top.

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