"A fantastic scene takes place in a cobbled street between two buildings: a large house (left) with the words 'London / Coffee / House' in huge letters above the ground, first, and second floors respectively; and (right) 'The London Tea House' on a façade above the shop-front of the 'Genuine Tea Company' [at 23 Ludgate Hill]. From a centre first-floor window of the latter steps a winged figure resembling Fame, blowing a trumpet from which issue the words 'No Adulteration'. A Chinese, resembling the figures on the trade-cards of tea-dealers, who seems to have walked out of the shop, holds a firebrand inscribed 'Pro Bono Publico' to an open tea-chest inscribed 'Chinese Gunpowder', the contents of which are exploding in flashes inscribed 'Genuine Tea' and terminating in black clouds, so as to tilt over a huge kettle inscribed 'Steam Engine' (which fills the greater part of the design and against which also Fame directs her blast), from which rise clouds of steam surrounding many little men who look out of the (lidless) kettle. The spout is inscribed 'Exchequer' and from it men (tea-dealers) are being poured head first into a china tea-pot (left) on which is a Chinese pattern: a tree with two branches, one inscribed 'To the Ks Bench', the other (in reversed characters) 'To Newgate'. One exclaims: "There was No Tea in the composition!!!!! yet they fined me £2320!!!" Another: "It's never too late to mend." Round the tea-pot lie bundles inscribed respectively: 'Clover & Ash'; 'Sloe leaves'; 'Verdigrease'; 'Potatoe Parings'; 'Dutch Pink'; 'Elder leaves'. Behind the spout is the word 'Bohea'. Other tea-dealers are falling from the kettle; one says: ""I wish to retrieve my Character" / "and I think that it is fair we / should All be Tarred" / with the same Mop.!!" vide report of the Meeting." Another: "We have been togathe [sic] & we'll go togather." In the centre of the tea-dealers emerging from the kettle is one represented by a chair with human head and arms, showing he is their Chairman (one Bedwells) and that a meeting of tea-dealers is represented: he holds out a paper: 'Tea paper Resolved--00000 Resolved--00000'. He says: "Gentlen, Unless we can make our Tea, a little better, depend upon it, we shall all go to pot! I am quite affected by it already-- but I hope I shall go to Bed-well." Beside him is a canister inscribed 'Ludgate Hill Gas'; on this sits a bird, chirping up at him. One of his audience says: "Aye, aye, we shall all be Dished"; another asks: "who calls, me a-ber-y." A man answers: ""I, said the Sparrow" vide Cock Robin." A man with an axe for head (? Axford): "I wish to Ax, if anybody can afford to sell cheaper?" The other speakers appear also to indicate their names: "Sharps the word"; "I'll be Secretary, for I'm the Man for a Brown Study"; "who talks about sloes & black Berries"; "Come down with your Dust: I'm Treasurer"; "This is a bad Day for us--O, it will play the devil with us this Winter"; "Let's Marshall ourselves against this new Tea Compy"; "I lament this exposure, it makes me as melancholy as a Gibbs [the s scored through] Cat." Some look from the right of the kettle towards the new shop: one (? Shaw) says: "who cares a Button?--'Shaw!"; others: "Let's throw as much dirt at Concern [sic] as we can"; "Take care you don't splash your self"; "That's right! [? Wright] pelt away, never mind dirtying ourselves." Other speeches rising in the steam are: "Mr Chair man I consider this a Second Gunpowder plot it is evidently so as they opened on the 5th of November"; "Suppose we meet in Holborn"; "Although the Names of certain persons have been suppressed in the public prints there is no doubt but the Commissioners of Excise will give facility to the exposure of every delinquent coming under thier notice--see report of the Meeting." A little boy stands below looking up at the kettle; he says: "My eye! how the scum bubbles up to the top!" On the ground (right) sits a street-seller with a large bundle of papers under her arm inscribed 'Resolutions of the T. Trade--&c &c.' Beside her are other papers: 'Resolutions, &c.' and 'Tea Paper'. She holds out a straw, saying, "Who'll buy my ha'porth of Straw?-- for my part, if I could get good Tea I should not care a straw who I bought it of!" Customers enter the shop of the 'Genuine Tea Company'. One lady on the pavement meets another, saying, "I am going to mak a purchase of this New tea Company." Her friend answers: "I have just been we may now I think ask each other to a Cup of Tea!" A grotesque dandy, in short loose trousers over high boots, inspects the shop through a glass, saying, "Excellent! establishment pon honor!!", while an old woman in a red cloak hurries in at the door, saying, "Now for a Good Cup of Tea once more." A dog of dachshund type with 'Tim' on its collar barks at this group."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Tea trade in hot water! and Pretty kettle of fish!!!
Description:
Title etched below image., One line of quoted text above image: "The nefarious & abominable practice of mixing teas with various cheap ingredients of the most poisonous qualities, has already been sufficiently exposed; "!!!--" because their practices are calculated to produce disease, if not death" - vide Observer, Novr. 8th, 1818., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
Pubd. Novr. 14th, 1818, by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street
"America, a partly-draped female figure, is being held down by Lord Mansfield (right) in judge's wig and robes, while North, holding her by the throat, pours the contents of a tea-pot down her mouth. America ejects the tea in a stream directed at North's face. From his pocket hangs a paper inscribed "Boston Port Bill". Sandwich (left) kneels, holding America down by an ankle, while he lifts the edge of her draperies and peers beneath them. Behind Mansfield (right) stands Bute in Scots cap and kilt, holding a drawn sword, its blade inscribed "Military Law", pistols are thrust through his belt. Behind America stands Britannia resting one hand on her shield; she averts her face and covers her eyes with her hand. Behind Sandwich (left) stand two men dressed in the French and Spanish fashions and representing France and Spain or the monarchs of France and Spain; the order of the Golden Fleece hangs from the neck of Spain. They stand close together, pointing towards America with expressions of interest and concern. In the foreground is a torn document inscribed "Boston petition". In the background is the sea; on the horizon and on a minute scale are the spires of a town surrounded by ships, above is engraved, "Boston cannonaded"."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
America swallowing the bitter draught
Description:
Title engraved below image., Publication place and date from that of the periodical for which this plate was engraved., and Plate from: London magazine. London : Printed for J. Baldwin, v. 43 (1774), p. 185.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792, Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793, Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792, and Sandwich, John Montagu, Earl of, 1718-1792
Subject (Topic):
Boston Port Bill, 1774, Boston Tea Party, 1773, Britannia (Symbolic character), Ethnic stereotypes, Teapots, and Medical procedures & techniques
Volume 2, page 86. Etchings by Henry William Bunbury, Esq. and after his designs.
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Sportsmen in a bare breakfast parlour, with a small round table on which are tea-pot and cups, a loaf, and a wine-bottle. A stout man (left) sits beside the table, holding a wine-glass, his right hand on a dog's head; a boy kneels at his feet fastening on spurs; a yawning valet dresses his hair. He talks to a man standing on the extreme left, holding his hat and whip. Another man, a whip under his arm, stands at the table cutting a piece of bread. A short man sits with his back to the table examining the lock of his gun. Two men enter from the right, yawning violently. A pair of coupled dogs (right) prance in their eagerness to start. On the wall and hanging from the ceiling are antlers, a bird in a cage, a (?) saddle, a game-bag, a pair of pistols, a hat and whip, a fowling-piece."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Symptoms of drowsiness
Description:
Title from text below image., Probably a reissue; the statement of responsibility "W. Dickinson excudit" suggests that Dickinson was the original publisher of the plate., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Companion print to: The dinner : symptoms of eating & drinking., and Mounted on page 86 in volume 2 of: Etchings by Henry William Bunbury, Esq. and after his designs.
Publisher:
Publish'd March 5th, 1794, by John Jeffryes, Ludgate Hill
"The interior of a poverty-stricken room. An old man (left) seated in a chair is rubbing one foot which rests on a low stool with the contents of a bottle held in his right hand. He wears a night-cap, his hat and wig hang on the back of his chair. A witch-like woman, wearing large spectacles, is seated by the fire, she holds on her lap the bare leg of a young man, and is about to apply to it the contents of a pot which she is stirring on the fire. He is yelling with pain. On the wall is a placard, "Dr Steers Opodeldoc for Chilblains." Poverty is indicated by the untidy bed, a broken casement window, and the character of the chimney-piece, on which is a lighted candle, a tea-pot, and a broken cup. Over it is a print of a man, three quarter length. Probably a quack chiropodist's establishment of a very humble kind."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from text below image., Date of publication from British Museum catalogue., Temporary local subject terms: Quack doctor -- Medical: Chiropody -- Pin-point spectacles., Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Kibe -- Chilblains., 1 print : etching, engraving, and stipple engraving, hand-colored ; sheet 189 x 161 mm., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Quacks and quackery, Podiatry, Foot, Diseases, Interiors, Poverty, Teapots, Fireplaces, Eyeglasses, Beds, Cats, and Pain
"The interior of a poverty-stricken room. An old man (left) seated in a chair is rubbing one foot which rests on a low stool with the contents of a bottle held in his right hand. He wears a night-cap, his hat and wig hang on the back of his chair. A witch-like woman, wearing large spectacles, is seated by the fire, she holds on her lap the bare leg of a young man, and is about to apply to it the contents of a pot which she is stirring on the fire. He is yelling with pain. On the wall is a placard, "Dr Steers Opodeldoc for Chilblains." Poverty is indicated by the untidy bed, a broken casement window, and the character of the chimney-piece, on which is a lighted candle, a tea-pot, and a broken cup. Over it is a print of a man, three quarter length. Probably a quack chiropodist's establishment of a very humble kind."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from text below image., Date of publication from British Museum catalogue., Temporary local subject terms: Quack doctor -- Medical: Chiropody -- Pin-point spectacles., and Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Kibe -- Chilblains.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Quacks and quackery, Podiatry, Foot, Diseases, Interiors, Poverty, Teapots, Fireplaces, Eyeglasses, Beds, Cats, and Pain
A courtesan sits in a small armchair beside a small round tea-table, holding a cup in an affected manner. Behind her, on the chair, is a cat. A negro foot-boy in livery stands behind the table holding the tap of an urn which is filling the tea-pot. Both look towards the spectator with heads tilted to the left. A picture, freely sketched but apparently pornographic, hangs on the wall. From the ceiling hangs a cage containing a parrot. On the floor is an elegant rug with a scrolled design. See British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image; from a farce by John Scawen., Below image: Gentlemens design executed gratis., and Attributed to Kingsbury in British Museum catalogue.
Publisher:
Pub'd Jany. 18, 1787, by S.W. Fores at the Caracature Warehouse, No. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Topic):
Black people, Birdcages, Cats, Chairs, Floor coverings, Parrots, Servants, Tea tables (Tables), and Teapots
Title supplied by curator., Date and place of publication derived from style., Right edge trimmed within plate mark., and This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Convalescence, Postnatal care, Family members, Infants, Sick persons, and Teapots
Harding, G. P. (George Perfect), 1780-1853, artist
Published / Created:
[not after 1824]
Call Number:
Folio 33 30 Copy 4
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
Wash drawing depicting a teapot with Chinese figures on the sides and a lion on the lid, formerly part of Horace Walpole's collection at Strawberry Hill
Description:
Title devised by curator., Unsigned; questionable attribution to George Perfect Harding from local card catalog record., Date based on date of William Bawtree's death., and Mounted on page 37 of William Bawtree's extra-illustrated copy of: Horace Walpole's A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole (Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784). See A.T. Hazen's Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 11.
