Tag Archives: Headdresses

America! of wealth thou modern mine

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“Two native Americans wearing fronded head-dresses and armed with arrows, on a sea-shore, one kneeling on a rock with one hand propped on cones from a palm-tree, the other standing clothed in a goat’s skin, gesturing out to left with an ingot in one hand; a crocodile on the sand, a European ship at sea and three figures gathered around a hammock set between palms under a canopy on rocks in the upper right; from a set of the four quarters of the world; republished state.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Moore, James, active approximately 1761-1763, printmaker.
  • Title: America! of wealth thou modern mine … [graphic] / Amiconi pinxt ; Moor fecit.
  • Edition: [State 2].
  • Publication: London : Printed for & sold by R. Sayer opposite Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, [approximately 1765]

Catalog Record

765.00.00.02.1+

Acquired February 2024

Africa. America

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On the left, standing in front of a thatched hut. “Africa” wears a plumed headdress and animal pelt and holds a spear in his left hand; in his right hand he holds a document inscribed “Slave Trade abolish’d 1806.” On the right, “America” is Lady Liberty, wearing plumed headdress and cloak; she holds a standard with the Stars and Stripes, and gestures at a pedestal with portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. A snake curls around the pedestal. Between the two figures is a landscape with hills on either side of a river, and waterfall; a crocodile emerges from behind the figure of Africa.

  • Title: Africa. America [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Published Augt. 20, 1807 [by W.B. Walker …?], [20 August 1807]

Catalog Record

807.08.20.01+

Acquired March 2024

A duett at the Hanover Square concert

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Two women stand on a balcony, mouths open in song and eyes cast downward at their music sheet. They wear corsetted dresses and feathered head wear. A satire of the duet performed by Harriet Abrams (1758-1821), the English soprano and composer, and her sister Theodosia (ca. 1770-1849), a contralto, on 9 May 1788 at Hanover Square Rooms. The piece performed was ‘Gia che mia sposa sei’ by Antonio Sacchini, and the occasion was the annual benefit concert for the tenor Samuel Harrison.

 

  • Title: A duett at the Hanover Square concert [graphic] / JN [monogram] 1788.
  • Publication: London : Pub. by W. Holland, No. 50 Oxford Street, Augst. 5, 1789.

Catalog Record

789.08.05.01

Acquired November 2022

The rival queans, or, A scene in The beggars opera

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“Mrs. Clarke (left) and Mrs. Carey (right) (see British Museum Satires No. 11050) berate each other; both wear evening dress, with feathers in their hair, those of Mrs. Carey being the taller. The Duke, wearing regimentals, watches the quarrel, equally distant from both. Mrs. Clarke, arms akimbo, says: “Why how now Madam Carey, although you are so Warey In saveing of your cash, John Bull and I we both will try, And settle all your hash.” [see 1803 Isaac Cruikshank print for an earlier use of this phrase, BM impression 1868,0808.7141/ PPA108823] Mrs. Carey retorts: “Why how now Madam Clarke—— Why since you thus can chatter—— And thus betray your spark—— I wonder whats the matter with, you, Madam Clarke!!” The Duke looks at Mrs. Clarke, stopping his ears, a leg raised in angry protest; he says: “Zounds! the thunder of Valencienes was Music to this”. Behind Mrs. Clarke is a cockatoo on a high perch, screaming: “go it! go it”; a chair has been overturned, and a mastiff, its collar inscribed ‘John Bull’, barks at the Duke. A small dog behind Mrs. Carey also barks. She stands with her back to the fire. On the chimney-piece a china Cupid aims his arrow at a heart on the trunk of a tree.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: The rival queans, or, A scene in The beggars opera [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. March 1809 by Walker, Cornhill, [March 1809]

Catalog Record

809.03.00.08+

Acquired November 2022

The modern genius of history at her toilet

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The modern genius of history at her toilet

Caroline, wearing a chemise and high-strapped shoes, stands admiring herself in front of a full-length mirror. With her right hand she adjusts a feather in her elaborate headdress, which is adorned with the Prince of Wales’s feathers on the far side and several pointed feathers on the near side, two of which resemble horns; her left hand rests on her hip. Bergami stands behind her in astonished delight, his hands raised in the air; a garment hangs from his left arm, and several towels or pieces of clothing marked with the initials “B B” are strewn on the floor. A man and a woman peer in on the scene from an adjoining room, the man with a pleased look on his face and the woman with one of surprise. On the wall behind Bergami hangs an oval mirror, the decorative frame of which includes a figure of Cupid standing atop a goat while shooting an arrow. A book with “History” on its spine lies on its side in the left foregraound; a burning candle in its holder sits upon the book.

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: The modern genius of history at her toilet [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., May 20, 1821.

Catalog record 

821.05.20.02

Acquired March 2019