Virginia Indians, Man & Woman in Traditional Dress – Handcolored Engraving, 1683

€ 240

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1683
Sheet size: 18.7 × 12.8 cm (7.4 × 5.0 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-14129-4

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Condition

Good condition for a hand-colored engraving of the late 17th century. Overall age toning to the paper, with scattered foxing and surface soiling, most visible in the margins. Minor abrasions and light handling wear. The hand coloring remains clear.

About this sheet

Two Native inhabitants of Virginia in a hand-colored copper engraving from Alain Manesson Mallet's encyclopedic geography, c.1683. A ribbon banner across the sky reads "De Virginie," and the sheet is headed in German, "die Einwohner der Landtschafft Virginea," with "Fig. 17" at the right.

A man and a woman stand side by side on open ground within a ruled border, in a shallow landscape of low hills. The woman at the left holds a sprig of leaves in one raised hand, wears a purple wrap and layered bead necklaces, and has long hair falling across her shoulders. The man wears a tall headdress of red feathers and a striped blue mantle edged with gold bands, with bracelets and anklets, and holds a staff. The colorist added blue sky with white clouds and green and brown to the ground.

Mallet's work, first issued in Paris in 1683 as Description de l'Univers, was a large survey of the known world, and its American plates offered European readers a widely copied image of the Native peoples of North America.