The Wife of a Franc Merchant in an Undress in 1700

by Thomas Jefferys

In this particular print, which was engraved in the mid-18th century by Thomas Jefferys, we have an extremely rare opportunity to see the fashion inside the house belonging to the wife of a Franc Merchant at the beginning of the 18th century.

The delicately engraved plate provides a detailed image of how a rich lady wore her undress clothes. The notion of "undress" means "informal wear". Though her husband was involved in trading such items as silk, spices, and other exotic goods, his wife was the symbol of emerging bourgeois women at that time.

Thomas Jefferys, the geographer and engraver to King George III, recorded all stages of social stratification in the 18th century in great detail.