Country Woman near Nuremberg in Laced Bodice and Apron, 1755, Jefferys 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered "Habit of a Country Woman near Nuremberg, in 1755." It is plate 175 from Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, published in London in 1757. The young woman points with her left hand toward the viewer's right. She wears a fur cap with white lappets, a white chemise gathered at the neck and a gray jacket open over a yellow bodice laced in red. A white apron covers a short, full green skirt striped with red near the hem, a bunch of keys hangs at her side, and she wears brown stockings and green shoes.

The English title is engraved in script below the figure, with the French caption "Paysanne aux Environs de Nuremberg." (Peasant woman from the country around Nuremberg) beneath it and the plate number 175 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. It is the companion plate to the country man from near Nuremberg in the dress of the same year.

Jefferys was a London geographer and map publisher, styled on his title page Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, with premises in the Strand. In 1757 he issued the second volume of A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern. Particularly Old English Dresses, whose figures, according to the title page, were taken after the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others. The parallel French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, explains the bilingual captions.

A plain mat in a warm white sets off the hand coloring, and the plate pairs naturally with other figures from the series.

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