New Potato Seller at the Middlesex Hospital, Cries of London, 1804

This is an original hand colored copper engraving, one of the Cries of London plates, lettered "NEW POTATOES." beneath the image. It shows a woman wheeling a barrow of new potatoes past the Middlesex Hospital. She wears a black hat over a yellow headscarf, a blue checked kerchief, and a red gown with its skirt gathered up behind over a blue petticoat, and leans into the handles of the wooden wheelbarrow, which holds a pair of scales on its load. Behind her are trees, brick gate piers topped by a lamp, and the brick front of the hospital.

The London setting is engraved in script above the image as "Middlesex Hospital." and the cry in open capitals below it as "NEW POTATOES.". At the lower left is the artist's credit "Craig.del." (del., for delineavit, "drew it"), naming William Marshall Craig as the designer. Along the foot runs the imprint "Published April 25 1804 by Richard Phillips 71 St Pauls Church Yard", dating the plate to April 25, 1804.

The plate comes from Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis, printed for Richard Phillips of St. Paul's Church Yard by C. Mercier and Co. in 1804. Alongside its topographical views of the capital the book included a series of hand colored plates of London street traders, each figure shown in working dress against a named street, square or building, so that the set records both the trades and the appearance of the city at the time. The designs in the series are credited to the painter William Marshall Craig where the plates carry his name, as this one does.

The hand coloring and the named London setting make it a good choice for a hallway, kitchen or study, alone or hung with other plates from the series.

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