Infanta of Spain in 1598 in a Gold Brocade Gown, Jefferys Costume Plate, 1757

An original antique print, a copper engraving colored by hand, lettered "Habit of the Infanta of Spain, in 1598." A young woman stands three quarters toward the viewer in a wide open gown of golden brocade lined in coral pink, its long hanging sleeves falling behind her to the ground. Her tight undersleeves are banded in crimson and gold, and the open front of the gown shows a pale silver gray underskirt with an embroidered and jeweled center panel. A starched ruff frames her face, white plumes and a jewel rise from her dressed hair, and gold chains with a pendant cross her stiff bodice. At the viewer's left she rests one hand at her waist above a lace handkerchief; at the viewer's right she holds a pair of gloves.

The English title is engraved in script beneath the image: "Habit of the Infanta of Spain, in 1598." Below it is the French caption "Infante de Espagne" (in English, "Infanta of Spain"), and the plate number 120 is engraved at lower right. No engraver or designer is named on the plate.

The plate comes from the second volume of Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern. Particularly Old English Dresses. After the Designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar, and others, published in London in 1757 by Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the Strand. The work carried a parallel French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which explains the French caption on each plate. It falls among the Spanish figures of the volume. The year in the English title is the date of the costume shown, not of the print, which was published in 1757.

The single figure on a plain ground suits a simple mount and a narrow frame, and it hangs well beside other plates from the same series.

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