Bridal Dress of a Lady of Cologne with Gold Headdress, Costume of 1577, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered "Bridal Habit of a Lady of Cologne in 1577." It is plate 163 from Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, published in London in 1757. The bride is seen from behind, turning in profile toward the viewer's left with her hands raised. She wears a tall cylindrical headdress of gold work and several necklaces. Her mauve gown has a square neckline filled with a pale blue lattice, and long hanging sleeves edged in fur fall to the ground and spread into a sweeping train. Gold flowers run down the front opening of the skirt, over a green and gold striped underskirt.

The English title is engraved in script below the figure, with the French caption "Habit de Noce d' une Dame de Cologne." (Wedding dress of a lady of Cologne) beneath it and the plate number 163 at lower right. No engraver or designer is named on the plate. The date in the English title is the date of the costume shown; the print itself was published in 1757.

Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, published the second volume of A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern from his premises in the Strand, London, in 1757. As the title page states, the figures follow the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others. The book was bilingual, with the French title Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, and its plates pair an English title in script with a shorter French caption.

The plate works well framed on its own, or as part of a small group of regional costume prints in matching frames.

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