The Court of King's Bench in Westminster Hall in Session, 1804

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, lettered "The Court of King's Bench, Westminster." The view shows the court in session. Four judges in full wigs sit on the raised bench at the back beneath a canopy, with clerks at the table below them. Rows of barristers in wigs and gowns crowd the curved benches in the foreground, while spectators, including women in white, stand at the sides and in the boxes. Above the bench three Gothic niches hold standing royal statues, a tall traceried window lights the right side, and bookshelves line the wall behind the officials.

The title is engraved in script below the image. The artist's credit "E. Pugh del." is at lower left and the engraver's credit "J. G. Walker sc." at lower right. Beneath the title is the imprint "Published Augt 11-1804 by Richard Phillips 71 St Pauls Church Yard."

The plate comes from Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis, printed for Richard Phillips, No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., Northumberland-court, Strand, in 1804, and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Many of its topographical views were drawn by Edward Pugh, a Welsh painter working in London, and engraved on copper by several London engravers, each of whom signed his own plate. In 1804 the Court of King's Bench still sat within Westminster Hall, and the Gothic statues and window in the view belong to that medieval setting.

A natural choice for a law office, chambers or a lawyer's library.

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