Original Antique Print of a Chocolate-Drinking Creole Lady of Lima, Peru, c.1796

Name: Original Antique Print of a Chocolate-Drinking Creole Lady of Lima, Peru, c.1796
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-14303-33
Price: 390 USD
Availability: InStock

$390

€349 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: 1796
Kind: Views & Engravings
Size: 40.8 × 25.7 cm (16.1 × 10.1 in)
Condition: Good. Good condition considering its age. General age-related toning, occasional foxing, and minor handling wear. Please study the image carefully.
Period: The Early Republic
Places: Peru
Reference: BG-14303-33

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.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

A Creole lady of Lima drinking chocolate, an original copperplate engraving lettered "Española Criolla de Lima" and "Dame Créole du Pérou", numbered "N. 36" at the top. The lettering below the image credits the design and engraving to D. Juan de la Cruz ("delin. et sculp."). The old text places it in Giulio Ferrario's costume work Raccolta di Disegni delle più Interessanti Vestimenta delle Diverse Nazioni, published in Venice around 1796.

The woman stands on a tiled floor in a wide, ornate skirt with scrolling embroidery and several deep flounces edged in lace, a lace-sleeved bodice with a jeweled front, and a flowered headdress with a tall ornament. She holds a mancerina in her raised hand, the saucer with a ring that held the cup of hot chocolate, and her other hand is lowered at her side. At her feet are a chocolate pot on small legs and a cup with a spoon.

The mancerina was a Spanish-American vessel developed to keep hot chocolate from spilling, and chocolate drinking was an important ritual among the wealthy Creole families of colonial Lima.

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