Matron of Swabia in Fur-Trimmed Blue Gown, Costume of 1577, Jefferys 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered "Habit of a Matron of Swabia, in 1577." It is plate 179 from Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, published in London in 1757. The matron walks toward the viewer in a small brown hat with a white feather and a long white streamer, a small ruff and a gold chain. Her blue gown, patterned with a damask design and edged in fur, has puffed striped sleeve heads over ochre sleeves and falls open over a long white petticoat, with a yellow panel showing near the hem on the viewer's right. One hand hangs at her side and the other is raised to her breast.

The English title is engraved in script below the figure, with the French caption "Matrone de Souabe." (Matron of Swabia) beneath it and the plate number 179 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 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.