Lot 17*
COSTUME A large collection of nineteenth century pen, coloured ink and wash drawings of historical costumes, [mid-nineteenth century]
4 December 2019, 11:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £765 inc. premium
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COSTUME
A large collection of nineteenth century pen, coloured ink and wash drawings of historical costumes, approximately 500 illustrations (mostly tracings, of which upwards of 250 fully hand-coloured), many uncoloured ink, grey wash or pencil drawings, several original engravings (see footnote), printed matter, and a few manuscript notes (one marked "Introduction" on paper watermarked "1831", one with small diagrams and colour trials), most captioned, mostly tipped onto approximately 500 loose leaves, some grouped in old paper fold-over wrappers ("Priest's Garments", "16th Cent.", etc.), 4to (280 x 230mm.), [mid-nineteenth century]
Footnotes
A lively assemblage of original pen and coloured ink drawings of historical costumes, from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, derived mostly from both British and French sources. These include Henry Shaw's Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, Nicolas Xavier Willemin's Monuments francais, and costume works of James Robinson Planché, and Auguste Racinet. Engraved material includes: Wenceslaus Hollar. Summer; Autumn; and Winter, three (of 4) engravings from his Four Seasons suite, c.1641; Sebastian Le Clerc, Divers costumes francais du règne de Louis XIV, complete suite of 20 costume engravings (including title), c.1700. Well executed, mostly tracings, it seems likely these were made with a view to a future publication.