Lady Mayoress of London in 1640, Ruff and Red Gown, Jefferys Costume Print, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1757, colored by hand, lettered "Habit of the Lady Mayoress of London, in 1640." The Lady Mayoress walks forward in a black hat with a broad brim and a deep pleated ruff of white lace. Her red gown is looped up at the side over a long pale gray petticoat bordered with a gold band, and the bodice is laced across with gold. She wears long buff gloves turned back with fur cuffs, holds a small feather fan at her breast and points with her other hand toward the viewer's right.

The English title is engraved in script below the image: "Habit of the Lady Mayoress of London, in 1640." Beneath it, in smaller italic letters, is the French caption "L'Epouse du Lord Mayor de Londres.", meaning "the wife of the Lord Mayor of London". The plate number 221 is engraved at lower right. The word "Mayoress" is engraved with a long s. No engraver or artist 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, published in London in 1757 by Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the Strand. The work has a parallel French title page, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which is why each plate is captioned in both languages. The English title page states that the old English dresses were taken after the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others, so the date in the caption belongs to the costume and not to the print. The Lady Mayoress was the wife of the Lord Mayor of London, as the French caption says.

A London subject of real character, it suits a study, an office or a collection of prints of the City.

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