Habit of a Moorish Woman in 1695

by Thomas Jefferys

The extremely rare engraving from 1695 is made by the famous geographer and cartographer Thomas Jefferys in his signature style of capturing the details of clothing and the anatomy of North Africans. Known as “Habit of a Moorish Woman,” the illustration shows the intricacy of wearing Maghrebian traditional attire, which is represented through the flowing dresses and extravagant headwear characteristic of that period. Contrary to most representations of people at that time, which focused on romanticizing their looks, this artwork adopts an early ethnographic approach to capturing the distinctive jewelry and styles of clothing of the “Moorish” culture.