A barbers-shop in assize time from a picture painted by H.W. Bunbury, Esqre. / [graphic]

"A country barber, his assistant, and a boy, are engaged in shaving and wig-dressing. An elderly rustic sits full-face and well-lathered in an arm-chair in the centre of the shop, while a lean and tattered barber holds the bowl. A stout farmer in top-boots (left) with a stubbly face dubiously contemplates a wig, which he holds on a tall wig-block. On the right a fat barber painfully shaves an old man, while a younger customer stanches a cut over a basin. A young boy in front of them holds two elaborately curled legal wigs. A long judge's wig, uncurled, hangs from a wig-block. Behind (left) a prim, elderly man in a newly dressed wig adjusts his neck-cloth at a small mirror; a coachman in back view puts on his tightly curled wig. There are also two dogs, two cats, a magpie taking part of a wig from a box on the floor, and another bird in a cage. Above the door (right) are fishing-rods and a creel. On the wall are four prints: a naval battle (framed); a view of the 'County Gaol'; an execution scene; and a skeleton fiddling to exulting demons. There is also 'A Calendar of the Prisoners to be Tried. . . '. The room is ramshackle with a casement window, bricks showing through the plaster. From the roof hang a ham and a bundle of turnips and carrots."--British Museum online catalogue, description of an earlier state of the same composition