Door Mats, Charing Cross, Cries of London, 1804

An original antique hand colored copper engraving of a London street seller, lettered "DOOR MATS." below the image and "Charing Croſs" in script above it. A man in a round hat, long brown coat and red breeches walks to the right, toward the statue, with a large bundle of rush door mats on his back and another mat in his hand. Behind him, inside its iron railings, stands the equestrian statue of Charles I on its stone pedestal, with tall stone buildings beyond.

The location "Charing Croſs" is engraved in script, with a long s, at the top of the plate and the cry "DOOR MATS." 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. The bronze statue of Charles I at Charing Cross, cast by Hubert Le Sueur, has stood at the top of Whitehall since the 1670s.

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.

The small format, double ruled border and fresh coloring suit a single frame or a group of street cries hung together.

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