Hats and Bonnets of the Directoire, Pair of Antique Prints, circa 1882

About this sheet

This is a set of two original antique hand-colored wood engravings, sold together as one lot, from Augustin Challamel's La France et les Francais a travers les siecles, Paris, circa 1882. The sheets are, in order: The Trouble with Bonnets; Hats and Bonnets of 1796. Three women in enormous brimmed capotes crowding together so that the bonnets collide, a satire on the fashion taken from the cabinet de Harlem, the figures in high waisted gowns of lemon, rose and pale blue. A sheet of hats and bonnets of 1796 worn by four women, brimmed capotes, a turban and a lace cap, taken from a period engraving and arranged across the plate for comparison.

The plate belongs to La France et les Francais a travers les siecles by Augustin Challamel, published in Paris by F. Roy at 185 rue Saint-Antoine about 1882. It comes from the suite headed Costumes civils et militaires des Francais a travers les siecles, which runs through the work and illustrates French civil and military dress from Gaul to the nineteenth century. Much of the original drawing was done by Edmond Lechevalier-Chevignard, working from manuscripts, tapestries and paintings named on the sheets themselves. The plates of this suite are headed Costumes civils et militaires des Francais a travers les siecles across the top of the sheet, numbered at the lower left and signed F. Roy, editeur at the lower right, with the engraver's name cut small into the lower margin of the block on many of them. The ground is left plain so that the figures carry the whole weight of the design.

Fashion caricature of the Directoire is a small and very collectable field, and this plate is a genuine period joke about a real difficulty, which gives it a liveliness most costume plates do not have. Millinery is where Directoire fashion moved fastest and this plate records four distinct hat shapes from one year, which no single fashion portrait could do. They are two original sheets sold together, and the set is never split. Hung together in matching frames the sheets read as one piece of wall rather than as separate prints, and the uniform plate size makes an even line above a sideboard, a bed or a run of stairs.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the edges of both sheets. Light foxing in the margins of both sheets. Slight wear at the corners of one of the two sheets.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.