Habit of Jane Seymour, Queen to Henry VIII in 1536, Jefferys Plate, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered in script "Habit of Jane Seymour Queen to K. Henry VIII in 1536." The queen stands with her hands folded at her waist, wearing a gable hood with gold lappets and a long black veil, and a jeweled necklace and brooch. Her green gown has a long train patterned in gold and wide hanging sleeves lined with ermine, open over a cream underskirt latticed in gold. A long jeweled girdle chain ending in a tassel falls down the front of the skirt.

The French caption below reads "Jeanne Seymour femme du Roi Henry VIII.", meaning Jane Seymour, wife of King Henry VIII. The plate number 196 is engraved at lower right. No artist or engraver is named, and the plate does not name Holbein.

Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, published A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern in London in 1757, and this plate comes from the second volume. The title page names Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others as the sources of the designs, and the book also bears a French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, matching the French captions engraved beneath each English title. Jane Seymour married Henry VIII in 1536 and died in 1537, shortly after the birth of the future Edward VI. The date in the caption refers to the costume, not to the print.

With its clear single figure and wide margins, the plate is easy to mount and frame, alone or as part of a small group.

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