Gentleman in the Highlands of Scotland in 1745, Jefferys Costume Plate, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered in script "Habit of a Gentleman in the Highlands of Scotland, in 1745." A young man with long hair under a flat blue bonnet stands pointing to the left with his right hand. Over a mustard yellow coat he wears a great plaid of green tartan, belted at the waist and gathered over his left shoulder, falling to the knee over tartan hose. A sporran hangs at the front of his belt beside a dirk, and a sword hangs at his left side, its blade showing between his legs.

The French caption beneath reads "Gentilhomme des Montagnes d'Ecosse.", meaning gentleman of the mountains of Scotland. The plate number 191 is engraved at lower right, and no artist or engraver is named.

The plate belongs to the second volume of Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern. Particularly Old English Dresses, published in London in 1757 by Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the Strand. The title page states that the figures were taken after the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others, and the work carried a parallel French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which explains the two languages on every plate. The year 1745 is that of the Jacobite rising led by Charles Edward Stuart. The Dress Act of 1746 later restricted the wearing of tartan in the Highlands.

A single standing figure on a generous margin, it suits a simple mount and frame and works well alone or in a group with other plates from the series.

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