Spanish Knight of the Golden Key in 1700, Hand Colored Costume Plate, 1757

An original antique print, a copper engraving colored by hand, lettered "Habit of a Spanish Knight of the Golden Key in 1700." A young man with long fair hair and a plain white collar steps forward with one arm stretched out toward the viewer's right. He wears a long buttoned orange doublet belted at the waist, with a gold ornament tied with a crimson bow hanging at the front, over lilac sleeves striped with yellow and lilac breeches figured in gold. A deep green cloak is gathered over his shoulder and falls behind him, a sword hilt shows at his hip, and he holds a broad green hat in his lowered hand at the viewer's left. His yellow shoes are tied with red bows.

Two lines of lettering run below the figure. The English title, in a flowing script, reads "Habit of a Spanish Knight of the Golden Key in 1700." The French caption beneath it reads "Gentilhomme Espagnol.", meaning "Spanish Gentleman", and the number 123 is engraved at lower right. The plate carries no engraver or designer credit.

The plate comes from the second volume 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 carried a parallel French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which explains the French caption on each plate. It falls among the Spanish figures of the volume. At the Spanish court a golden key was the badge of a gentleman of the royal bedchamber, which is the rank the English title refers to. The year in the English title is the date of the costume shown, not of the print, which was published in 1757.

A cream or ivory mat brings out the hand coloring against the plain paper.

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