Cherries, St. James's Place, Cries of London, 1804

An original antique hand colored copper engraving of a London street seller, lettered "CHERRIES." below the image and "St. James's Place" in script above it. A woman in a black hat, white kerchief, yellow sleeves, checked apron and blue skirt weighs cherries in a pair of hand scales over a wheelbarrow filled with the fruit. Behind her rises a turreted Tudor brick gatehouse with a clock, and a brick wall on the right.

The location "St. James's Place" is engraved in script at the top of the plate and the cry "CHERRIES." in open capitals at the bottom. Below the border, the lower left corner carries the artist credit "Craig. del." (meaning Craig drew it), and the center carries the imprint "Published Augst. 25-1804, by Richard Phillips, 71, St. Pauls' Church Yard.", dated August 25, 1804. No engraver is named. St. James's Place is a short street off St. James's Street, close to St. James's Palace.

Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis was published in London in 1804, printed for Richard Phillips of No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Alongside its views of public buildings it carried a series of plates of the street traders of London, each showing a seller with his or her wares against a recognizable London setting, named in script above the image, with the trader's cry engraved below. William Marshall Craig, credited on the plate as the draftsman, was a London painter in watercolors and miniatures and a drawing master. His designs for the series record the dress, tools and goods of the people who sold in the streets of Georgian London, and they remain a valuable document of everyday life in the city at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

It pairs naturally with other plates from the series and would make a lively addition to a wall of London subjects.

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