"A companion plate to British Museum Satires No. 13989 by the same artist, and with the same imprint. A Chinese interior resembling that of British Museum Satires No. 13986. George IV as a mandarin, languid and ill, sits cross-legged on a low settee. Peacock's feathers (cf. British Museum Satire No. 13299) decorate his round hat. Sidmouth as a Chinese doctor feels his pulse with concern. At the King's feet is a long rolled document headed 'List of Addresses presented to Caroline Queen of [Engla]nd'. Behind (right), a melancholy Chinese messenger hands Bloomfield (a Chinese wearing a large sword) a paper: 'Bill Thrown Out'. The latter registers dismay with raised arms. There is a slanting cloud of smoke as in British Museum Satires No. 13986. On the wall is a picture of the Queen, with sword and shield, fighting a dragon. Carved dragons decorate the King's settee (or throne), and there is a big dragon jar on the right; all the dragons look menacingly towards the King, who rests his right hand on a table on which are decanter, pill-box, &c."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Theodore Lane in the British Museum catalogue., Approximate month of publication from the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Companion print to: Moments of pleasure., and Mounted on page 37 of: George Humphrey shop album.
Publisher:
Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James's St.
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821., Bloomfield, Benjamin Bloomfield, Baron, 1768-1846, and Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844
Subject (Topic):
Costumes, Chinese, Interiors, Furniture, Draperies, Medical equipment & supplies, Physicians, Documents, Smoke, Messengers, Vases, Figurines, and Dragons
Drawing of two small statues that were kept by Horace Walpole in the Tribune at Strawberry Hill. The female figure on the left, labeled "No. I" lightly in pencil above, stands on a pedestal with her arms extended towards the viewer; human and animal images cover her clothing, griffins and birds decorate the plaques extending behind her head, and a castle tower (?) serves as a hat. The figure on the right, labeled "No. II", is shaped like an Egyptian sacophagus, the portion below the crossed arms being covered with hieroglyphs
Description:
Title written in ink below image., Attribution to John Carter from local catalog card., Date of production based on probable date for Richard Bull's assembly of the extra-illustrated volume in which this drawing appears. See Hazen., Mounted on page 176 of Richard Bull's copiously extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 13., and For further information, consult library staff.
