Habit of the Daughter of a Pict

by Thomas Jefferys

"Habit of the Daughter of a Pict" is an illustration published by Thomas Jefferys during the mid-18th century (c. 1757-1772) in his collection, A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations.

The engraving portrays an imaginative interpretation of the historical population of Scotland in accordance with the Enlightenment ideals of the 18th century.

Though contemporary archaeology may have provided a more realistic depiction of the Picts than what Jefferys had imagined, this piece of art can be seen as how the 18th century perceived the ancestry of the Picts. This particular print illustrates a female descendant of the Picts, not as barbarians but as an elegant person with the elaborate body designs of flora and fauna that earned them the name Picts ("The Painted Ones") in Latin (Picti).