1830 Perrot Comparative Charts of the World's Men and Women

These are c. 1830 Ferdinand Victor Perrot comparative charts of the women and men of the world. Seventy-eight women and seventy men from Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and America are depicted in traditional dress. Each likeness is numbered which corresponds to a label (nationality, race, location) and a short description. Intriguingly, the word 'race' is used only in the title of the comparative chart of men, not the comparative chart of women. French, English, Scottish, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian (Iles Sandwich), Berber, Egyptian, Bedouin, Sioux, Eskimo, Peruvian, and Mexican dress are only a small sample of the costumes presented and appear on both sheets. Multiple examples are given of the costumes of several of the 'races', including the formal and everyday wear of French women. Three different Swiss women are included, each representing from a different Swiss city, and two Chinese men and women are present in each of the charts.

Gum Arabic Gouache

This view features extensive use of Gum Arabic.  Most watercolor paints produced from the mid-19th century onward have a gum arabic component which acts a binding agent to hold the pigment in suspension.   Some watercolorists, when mixing their own paints, will add additional gum arabic to the paint, leading to strikingly vibrant, glossy, and depending on the mixture, even transparent and opaque colors.  This technique is also sometimes referred to as gouache or bodycolor.

Publication History and Census

These charts were created by Ferdinand Victor Perrot, printed by the Fosset Imprimerie, and published by Basset c. 1830. The only examples catalogued in the OCLC are in the collection of the National Library of Australia and these charts are rare on the private market.