Senator of Leipzig in Fur-Faced Gown and Striped Hat, Costume of 1577, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered "Habit of a Senator of Lepzic, in 1577." It is plate 166 from Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, published in London in 1757. The white-bearded senator faces the viewer, his right hand extended and his left holding a white handkerchief at his chest. He wears a tall cap striped in blue and gold, a ruff, and a long red coat under a heavy dark gray gown with puffed sleeves, broad brown fur facings and a gold border at the hem. White stockings and tan shoes show beneath.

The English title is engraved in script below the figure, with the French caption "Senateur de Leipzig." (Senator of Leipzig) beneath it and the plate number 166 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 English caption uses the old spelling Lepzic, the French the form Leipzig.

Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, published the second volume of A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern from his premises in the Strand, London, in 1757. As the title page states, the figures follow the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others. The book was bilingual, with the French title Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, and its plates pair an English title in script with a shorter French caption.

The plate works well framed on its own, or as part of a small group of regional costume prints in matching frames.

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