Countess of Holland and Zealand in 1480 with a Veiled Headdress, Jefferys, 1757

An original antique print, a copper engraving colored by hand, lettered "Another Habit of a Countess of Holland and Zealand in 1480." A woman with a calm, pale face wears a tall pointed headdress in purple, with a white wimple framing her face and a long translucent veil streaming from its peak to below her waist. A heavy gold collar and chain lie on her bodice, which is striped vertically in pink and gold. Her pale overskirt is decorated with large shapes outlined in red, blue and gold, and is lifted to show a lilac underskirt with a studded border. She holds one hand out toward the viewer's left and rests the other on her hip.

Two lines of lettering run below the figure. The English title, in a flowing script, reads "Another Habit of a Countess of Holland and Zealand in 1480." The French caption beneath it reads "Comtesse de Hollande et Zealand.", meaning "Countess of Holland and Zealand", and the number 139 is engraved at lower right. "Countess" and "Comtesse" are engraved with the long s. The plate carries no engraver or designer credit.

Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, published A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern from his premises in the Strand, London, and this plate is from the second volume, dated 1757 on its title page. The title page credits the designs to Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others, and a French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, accounts for the bilingual lettering. It falls among the figures from the Low Countries in the volume. Holland and Zealand were neighboring counties on the North Sea coast, held together under one ruler in the later Middle Ages. The year in the English title is the date of the costume shown, not of the print, which was published in 1757.

The clear figure and the engraved lettering read well at a distance, which suits a gallery wall of costume prints.

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