Duchess of Bouillon Seated in 1700, Hand Colored Jefferys Engraving, 1757

An original antique print, a copper engraving colored by hand, lettered "Habit of the Dutchess of Bouillon, in 1700." The figure is seated: a woman in a lace headdress tied with a red bow rests one arm on the scrolled arm of an openwork chair, over which purple drapery with gold tassels is thrown. She wears a sage green gown figured in gold with a deep yellow fringed hem, opening over a ruffled front, and a red mantle lined in white with a gold pattern falls from her shoulders. A large red cushion lies on the ground at the viewer's left, and in her other hand she holds a folded letter. A pearl necklace and lace sleeve ruffles complete the dress.

The English title is engraved in script beneath the image: "Habit of the Dutchess of Bouillon, in 1700." Below it is the French caption "Duchesse de Bouillon." (in English, "Duchess of Bouillon"), and the plate number 134 is engraved at lower right. "Dutchess" and "Duchesse" are engraved with the long s. No engraver or designer is named on the plate.

This is a plate from Volume II of A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern, published in London in 1757 by Thomas Jefferys in the Strand. Its title page announces the figures as taken "After the Designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar, and others," and the book was also titled in French, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations. It falls among the French figures of the volume. In 1700 the Duchess of Bouillon was Marie Anne Mancini, a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. 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.