"An African chief displays to a naval officer three black women, who stand together (right), grinning and coy, and absurdly squat and obese, with huge posteriors like those of the Hottentot Venus (see British Museum satire no. 11577). The officer, Lieut. Lyon, bows in profile to the right, right hand on his breast, staring with humorous and wary appraisal at the women. The chief, who smiles blandly, seated on a low slab, wears a huge nose-ring, a plume of ostrich feathers, and a sword for which his left ear serves as hilt. Immediately behind him is a bodyguard of four warriors holding tall spears on each of which a skull is transfixed. Two grin, one looks with sour possessiveness at the women. All the Africans are very negroid, and naked except for small aprons. Behind the women are more Africans, much amused. Behind Lyon stand an astonished naval officer and two amused military officers; all are in dress uniform. Behind these are grinning sailors and on the extreme left the tips of the bayonets of the escort, with a Union flag."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
King of Timbuctoo offering one of his daughters in marriage ...
Description:
Title from item., An anchor is a symbol used by Captain Frederick Marryat; he was a personal friend of George Cruikshank the caricaturist and engraver and designed a number of prints for him., and Sheet trimmed leaving thread margins.
Publisher:
Pubd. Octr. 10, 1818 by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Geographic):
Africa, West and Africa, West.
Subject (Name):
Lyon, G. F. 1795-1832 (George Francis), and Lyon, G. F. 1795-1832. (George Francis),
Subject (Topic):
Black people, English wit and humor, Pictorial, Ethnic stereotypes, Military officers, British, and Skulls
A racist and complex print purports to show a dinner held at the African Institution, becoming increasingly drunken and debauched as the evening progresses. Cruikshank employs many common 19th-century racist stereotypes of black people - drunkenness, aggressiveness, and sexual promiscuity - and lampoons the idea that black people could aspire to behave like white people. In the print, the white abolitionists are portrayed as unsuspecting and bewildered innocents who find themselves entirely out of their depth. Cruikshank seems to suggest that their association with black people has corrupted them - that they are being 'uncivilised' rather than black people becoming 'civilised'. Meanwhile, the idea of relationships between races is ridiculed. Many familiar and important figures are represented. Abolitionists like Wilberforce, Stephen and Macaulay appear next to the street entertainer Billy Waters and the radical Robert Wedderburn ... See a full description at Royal Museums Greenwich online catalogue and A design based on Gillray's 'The Union Club' with the roistering fraternizers being English and negroes, in place of English and Irish. The chairman's raised throne with its canopy is on the extreme left, at the head of the table which extends to the right across the design. The throne is an infant's chair, or commode, supported on a round tray based on two casks, one above the other. Wilberforce has risen from the chair, so far as the front bar will permit, his chairman's hammer held between flexed knees ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image. and Place of publication transposed from end of publisher's statement.
Publisher:
Pud. July 19th 1819 by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain. and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Baartman, Sarah., Henri Christophe, King of Haiti, 1767-1820, Lyon, G. F. 1795-1832. (George Francis),, Macaulay, Zachary, 1768-1838, Marryat, Joseph, 1757-1824., Smith, William, 1756-1835., Stoddart, John, 1773-1856., Stephen, James, 1758-1832., Parr, Samuel, 1747-1825., Wedderburn, R. (Robert), Wilberforce, William, 1759-1833, and Anti-slavery Society (Great Britain)
Subject (Topic):
Antislavery movements, Political satire, English, Politics and government, Caricature, Clubs, Ethnic stereotypes, Intoxication, and Racism
