“Armenian Officer”: a sketch by Eugène Lacoste

The sketch presents the character “Armenian Officer”, an artistic reconstruction of Armenian military dress of the 2nd–3rd centuries AD. It was made by the French stage designer Eugène Lacoste in the 1870s for the Paris Opera.

It shows a standing man in a tall pointed hat, a white cloak, a short belted tunic and patterned stockings. A sword in its scabbard hangs at his side. In the lower left corner are the artist’s signature and the year 1878; in the right corner, the French inscription “Armenian officer”; and at the bottom, the stamp of the Opera library.