Spanish Lady of Quality in 1700 with a Long Veil, Jefferys Costume Plate, 1757

An original antique print, a copper engraving colored by hand, lettered "Habit of a Spanish Lady of Quality in 1700." A young woman faces the viewer under a long gray veil that falls from the crown of her head and sweeps out behind her to the viewer's right. She wears a short jacket of yellow brocade with pocket flaps, open at the shoulders above a white ruffled neckline, with a large blue bow and a jeweled brooch at the breast and a pendant on a pearl necklace. Lace ruffles fall at her wrists, and she holds a partly opened fan at her waist. A full blue skirt with an embroidered border spreads into a train on the ground behind her.

The English title is engraved in script beneath the image: "Habit of a Spanish Lady of Quality in 1700." Below it is the French caption "Dame de Qualité Espagnòlle." (in English, "Spanish Lady of Quality"), and the plate number 124 is engraved at lower right. "Espagnòlle" is the spelling engraved on the plate. No engraver or designer is named on the plate.

Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, published A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern from his premises in the Strand, London, and this plate is from the second volume, dated 1757 on its title page. The title page credits the designs to Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others, and a French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, accounts for the bilingual lettering. It falls among the Spanish figures of the volume. The year in the English title is the date of the costume shown, not of the print, which was published in 1757.

The clear figure and the engraved lettering read well at a distance, which suits a gallery wall of costume prints.

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