Decorative Antique Print of Two Chinese Honorific Gateways, Ferrario, 1815
€ 225
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1815
Mapmaker / artist
Giulio Ferrario; engraved by L. Rossi
Publisher
De l'Imprimerie de l'Editeur, Milan
Technique
Copper Engraving
Coloring
Original hand color
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-13000-58
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
Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners are present. Several larger brown marks.
About this sheet
This is an original hand colored copper engraving, dated 1815, from Giulio Ferrario's Le Costume Ancien et Moderne (ancient and modern costume), showing two Chinese honorific gateways. The plate has no engraved title or caption.
Two subjects are stacked on one sheet. Above, a gateway of four tall pillars carries three tiers of green tiled roofs with upswept ends, its lintels set with panels of ornamental lettering. Two figures, one in crimson with a blue hat and one in gray, stand beneath it, two more in blue and crimson stand at the right, and behind them a plainer pale blue gateway with three arches opens in a boundary wall. Below, a tall gateway rises in several stages with tiled roofs, its piers hung with green garlands and set with lettered and painted panels. Beside it at the left stand a red timber frame and tall red poles hung with small ornaments and streamers, in front of low tiled houses. Townspeople in long robes pass in front of the arch.
The plate number "58" is engraved at the upper right above the border, and the engraver signed inside the lower subject at the lower right: "L. Rossi fece" (made it). A small round blind stamp is pressed at the lower right corner of the plate mark, and an oval blind stamp sits in the lower right margin.
The plate comes from Le Costume Ancien et Moderne by Giulio Ferrario (1767 to 1847), a Milanese scholar and publisher. The work was a multi-volume illustrated survey of the customs of the peoples of the world, issued in parts in Italian and in French. The part wrapper issued with these plates closes with the imprint "MILAN, DE L'IMPRIMERIE DE L'EDITEUR, MDCCCXV" (Milan, from the publisher's press, 1815).
Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. Foxing over much of the margin. All four corners are present. Several larger brown marks.
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.
