Swiss Magistrate in Red Cape with Curved Sword, Costume of 1577, Jefferys 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered "Habit of a Swiss Magistrate, in 1577." It is plate 181 from Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, published in London in 1757. The magistrate has a long white beard and wears a black beret with a large white plume. A red cape bordered in black and edged with gold is wrapped over his shoulders, with a pink sash at his waist. His trunk hose are paned in yellow and pale green, with red puffs at the knee and red stockings, and he wears blue-gray shoes. He holds a glove in his right hand and in his left the gilt hilt of a curved sword whose blade sweeps down behind him.

The English title is engraved in script below the figure, with the French caption "Magistrat Suisse." (Swiss magistrate) beneath it and the plate number 181 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.

Jefferys was a London geographer and map publisher, styled on his title page Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, with premises in the Strand. In 1757 he issued the second volume of A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern. Particularly Old English Dresses, whose figures, according to the title page, were taken after the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others. The parallel French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, explains the bilingual captions.

A plain mat in a warm white sets off the hand coloring, and the plate pairs naturally with other figures from the series.

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