Habit of an English Man in 1577, Sword and Buckler, Jefferys Plate, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered in script "Habit of an English Man, in 1577." A man with a white beard and moustache stands with his right hand on his hip, wearing a tall gray hat with a twisted red band and a dark feather. His tan coat is buttoned down the front and belted, over brown trunk hose and pale blue hose. A round buckler with a central spike is held up on his left arm, and a sword with a gilt hilt hangs at his left side.

The French caption below reads "Un Anglois.", meaning an Englishman. The plate number 209 is engraved at lower right; 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 small round buckler carried with a sword was a familiar part of an Englishman's equipment in the sixteenth century, and sword and buckler fighting was a popular pastime of the period.

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.