Description:
Framed print transferred to glass and then painted, titled: "LADY NIGHTCAP at BREAKFAST./ Printed for Carington Bowles, Map & Printseller, No. 69 in St. Paul's Church Yard, London. Publish'd as the Act directs, 27 Feb. 1772." Painting on glass and transfers on glass were very popular in 18th-century America. For most of the century, supplies for transfers were available to the public to create their own, and many did as a hobby. Transfers on glass were made by adhering a printed image to glass with a tacky varnish and then rubbing off all but a very thin layer of the paper. The color was applied to the print in a backward order, beginning with the highlights and working toward the background. Printsellers advertised humorous prints among their offerings, and social and political satire were very popular subjects. Since all social classes were the subject of satire, wealthy people and their fashions and fads were often the subject of prints as were such pursuits as drinking and drunkenness. This print depicts a woman sitting at round table, facing forward, drinking tea from a saucer, a custom considered gauche throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The table has a round wooden tray holding a relatively complete set of tea drinking equipment with a teapot, teacup, sugar bowl and tongs, waste bowl, and cream pot; a small round plate with a round pastry; and a small book resting on a letter. She is wearing a red dress trimmed with lace and bows, and an elaborate nightcap obscuring much of her face. A young Black boy servant is standing to her left, dressed in a green suit and holding a kettle of hot water for making more tea; and her dog, probably a King Charles spaniel, sleeps on a stool in front of the boy.
Tags:
African; tea; caricatures; dogs; caps Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+59.252 |
