Decorative Antique Print of Two Chinese Honorific Gateways, 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 two Chinese honorific gateways. The plate has no engraved title or caption.

Two subjects are stacked on one sheet. Above, a gateway of four tall pillars carries three tiers of green tiled roofs with upswept ends, its lintels set with panels of ornamental lettering. Two figures, one in crimson with a blue hat and one in gray, stand beneath it, two more in blue and crimson stand at the right, and behind them a plainer pale blue gateway with three arches opens in a boundary wall. Below, a tall gateway rises in several stages with tiled roofs, its piers hung with green garlands and set with lettered and painted panels. Beside it at the left stand a red timber frame and tall red poles hung with small ornaments and streamers, in front of low tiled houses. Townspeople in long robes pass in front of the arch.

The plate number "58" is engraved at the upper right above the border, and the engraver signed inside the lower subject at the lower right: "L. Rossi fece" (made it). 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 the bottom, right and top edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners are present. Several larger brown marks.

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