Original Antique Chinese Peasants Gambling and Playing Dice, Ferrario, 1815

This is an original hand colored copper engraving, dated 1815, from Giulio Ferrario's Le Costume Ancien et Moderne (ancient and modern costume), showing Chinese peasants gambling and playing dice. The plate has no engraved title or caption.

Five men are gathered in the open around a rough wooden board lying on the ground, on which small dice are scattered. At the left a man in a black jacket and skullcap sits with his legs drawn up and points at the dice. Opposite him, seen from behind, a man in a white jacket and yellow trousers squats with a long queue down his back and a stick raised in one hand. Between them a gray bearded man in a blue coat and broad straw hat leans in over the board. Behind, a younger man in a conical straw hat smokes a long pipe, and an old man in spectacles, with a white beard, a broad straw hat and a black waistcoat over a pink robe, stands holding a hoe upright. A large round hat lies at the lower left and a short wooden handle with trailing cords lies on the ground nearby.

The plate number "72" is engraved at the upper right above the border. The engraver's name and a date are engraved along the brim of the hat at the lower left: "Gaet.o Zancon inci. 1814". A small round blind stamp is pressed at the lower right corner of the plate mark, and an oval blind stamp sits in the upper left margin.

The plate comes from Le Costume Ancien et Moderne by Giulio Ferrario (1767 to 1847), a Milanese scholar and publisher. The work was a multi-volume illustrated survey of the customs of the peoples of the world, issued in parts in Italian and in French. The part wrapper issued with these plates closes with the imprint "MILAN, DE L'IMPRIMERIE DE L'EDITEUR, MDCCCXV" (Milan, from the publisher's press, 1815).

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom and right.

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