“Two sailors are bargaining with a scantily clad Indian girl with a basket of fruit. Although pineapples were luxury goods at this time, the mirror, and in particular the watch offered by the seaman on the left represent a disproportionately high price for the fruit. The girl’s hairstyle resembles a pineapple reinforcing the point that she is the object of their attention rather than her wares. The two men are dressed in their shore-going clothes with buckled shoes and silk stockings. They wear baggy cotton trousers and short jackets. The sleeve of the left-hand sailor has a mariner’s cuff outlined in white piping and his wool jacket has metal buttons, which are probably made of brass. He wears a straw hat and his hair is done in a pigtail or queue. Both men have large silk neckerchiefs probably originating in India. Sailor’s dress was much the same in the merchant service and the navy. There was no uniform for the lower ranks at this time.”–Collections online, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
- Printmaker: Knight, Charles, 1743-1827?, printmaker.
- Title: Scarcity in India [graphic] / painted by H. Singleton ; engraved by C. Knight.
- Publication: [London] : Published Jan. 1st, 1794, by C. Knight at Wm. Bonds, No. 98 Charlotte Street, Rathbone Place, London, [1 January 1794]
794.01.01.11++
Acquired April 2023
A copy in reverse of William Hogarth’s Plate 6 of A harlot’s progress: A dilapidated room with Moll Hackabout’s friends, mostly prostitutes, gathered around her open coffin, several of them weeping; one young woman stands with her back to the scene as she gazes at herself in the mirror. On the right, a clergyman spills his brandy as he surreptitiously gropes beneath a woman’s skirt; Moll’s serving woman, standing at the coffin with a wine bottle and glass in hand scowls at the pair. Under the window and to the left, the undertaker flirts with a pretty young prostitute who picks a handkerchief from his pocket. In the foreground Moll’s small son plays with a spinning top. Sprigs of yew (rosemary?) decorate her coffin; a plate of yew rests on the floor at the parson’s feet, another spring at her son’s feet.
Copy in reverse of the first state of Plate 4 of Hogarth’s ‘The Rake’s Progress’ (Paulson 135): In this scene two baliffs, one with an arrest notice in his hand, have stopped Tom Rakewell’s sedan chair in St. James’s Street; Tom is presumably on his way to White’s gaming house which can be seen in the background. They are foiled in their attempt to arrest Tom for debt as Sarah Young, the young woman whom he had seduced and abandoned, offers the bailiffs her purse instead. Sarah is now a dealer in millinery as is suggested by the notions falling from her purse. In the right foreground a shoe-black apparently taking advantage of the situation to take hold of Tom’s elegant walking stick. Above them a careless lamplighter spills some oil on Tom’s head. To the left a Welshman, probably the creditor, honouring St David’s day (March 1st) with a leek in his hat, accompanied by his manicured dog, simply watches the scene. In the distance is the gate of St James’s Palace with a crowd of sedan-chairs approaching to celebrate the birthday of Queen Caroline.
“Elderly men sit and stand, all smoking long pipes; large clouds of smoke issue from their mouths, but little or nothing comes from the bowls of their pipes. Most sit or stand silently morose; two standing men (left) appear to be puffing smoke in each other’s faces. One leans back, apparently asleep, but smoking. An ugly man seated on the extreme right takes the hand of a pretty young woman who stands opposite him; he holds a large key. She slips a note into the hand of a fierce-looking military officer who stands with his back to her. On the wall (right) is a placard: ‘At a general meeting of this Society, it was resolv’d by a Majority of Independent members, that any member may be Indulg’d with having the Key brought him, by his Servant or hand-maid, but on no pretence whatever be followd by that bane of good fellowship calld the White Sergeant.’ Above the door are framed Rules: ‘Ist No Gemman to be a member of this Society who cannot smoke three pipes at one sitting – NB no Spitting 2d No members pipe to be more than 14 Inches nor less than nine unless permitted so to do by the Landlady 3d Every member to find his own Stopper 4th Any member who puffs designedly in the face of another, to be find sixpence or be puff’d at in return by the whole company 5th All fines to be spent in Porter T. Twig Secy’ On the back wall is a large print of Sir Walter Raleigh seated smoking (right) while a servant raises a bucket to fling at the smoke.”–British Museum online catalogue.
