Lady of the Lower Palatinate in Red Gown and Ruff, Costume of 1643, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered "Habit of a Lady of the Lower Palatinat, in 1643". It is plate 176 from Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, published in London in 1757. The lady stands facing the viewer with her hair dressed under a soft brown cap and a large pleated ruff at her neck. Her salmon red gown has slashed sleeves showing a yellow-green lining, lace cuffs and gold bands at the hem. With one hand she holds a small ribbon at her bodice, and with the other she gathers up the corner of her white apron.

The English title is engraved in script below the figure, with the French caption "Dame de Bas-Palatinat." (Lady of the Lower Palatinate) beneath it and the plate number 176 at lower right. No engraver or designer is named on the plate. The date in the English title is the date of the costume shown; the print itself was published in 1757. The Lower Palatinate was the Rhineland territory of the Electors Palatine, around Heidelberg.

The plate comes from Volume II 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 was issued in English and French, with a French title page reading Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which is why every plate carries a caption in both languages.

The single figure on an open ground suits a simple mat and a narrow frame, alone or hung with other costume plates from the same volume.

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