"Four members of the committee surround a treasure-chest, dismayed to find it empty of ducats and occupied by a grinning demon who points derisively at one of them, the Secretary (wearing a bonnet-rouge with a pen in it) who holds upside down an empty bag inscribed 'ils ont emigrè'. One of them, his back to the chest, takes from a Jew (left) wearing a fur cap a dish on which a little demon is excreting coins. On the right a large cupboard falls forward shooting the huge packages it contains, inscribed 'Recepissen' and 'Assignats', on to the backs of two of the committee, the more prominent is the president of the Committee of Accounts in BMSat 8850. '. . . les beaux ducats! ils ont passé chez nos frêres, les Français! dit le Secretaire....' The Jew sells a figure which he assures the purchaser will, if nourished with the tears of the Orangists, give fifty ducats daily. This is better than the piles of assignats which threaten ruin. Text, 'Ecclesiasticus, Jesus Sirach', xl. 13."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Artist identified as Hess and printmaker questionably identified as Gillray in the British Museum catalogue., Place and date of publication from British Museum catalogue., Possibly published by Hannah Humphrey. See British Museum catalogue., One of twenty plates published as a bound set entitled: Hollandia regenerata., Plate numbered "4" in upper left corner., With: Letterpress explanation in French that includes appropriate texts from the Bible in Dutch and in English., Temporary local subject terms: Committees: finance committee -- Jews -- Treasury chests -- Demons -- Finances: assignats -- Receipts -- Money: coins -- Holland: civil discord., and Letterpress explanation lacking.
