Details
Title The cook [graphic].
Publisher [New York: Harper & Brothers]
Publisher NY. New York. 1856
Date [January 1856]
Physical Description 1 print: wood engraving; image 16 x 12 cm. (6.25 x 4.5 in)
Description As the title suggests, the engraving is a portrait of a Virginia cook, whom Crayon described as "not merely a black woman, . . . but one bearing a patent stamp by the broad seal of Nature; the type of a class whose skill is not of books or training, but a gift both rich and rare -- who flourishes her spit as Amphitrite does her trident (or her husband's, which is all the same), whose ladle is as a royal sceptre in her hands, who has grown sleek and fat on the steam of her own genius, whose children have the first dip in all gravies, the exclusive right to all livers and gizzards, not to mention breasts of fried chickens -- who brazens her mistress, boxes her scullions, and scalds the dogs . . . ." (p. 176) Shown in her kitchen, the stout cook wears an apron and a kerchief, and is surrounded by bowls, buckets, a grill, and cooking utensils.
Is part of Harper's new monthly magazine. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1856.
Notes Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12, no. 68 (January 1856), p. 177.
Engraving accompanies Porte Crayon's [i.e., David Hunter Srother's] "Virginia Illustrated. Adventures of Porte Crayon and his Cousins," which was published in book form in 1857. See David Hunter Strother, Virginia Illustrated (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857).
Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Subject African American women cooks -- Virginia -- Portraits.
Cookery -- Virginia.
Genre Wood engravings -- 1850-1860.
Periodical illustrations -- 1850-1860.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Books & Other Texts | Rare | Per H 9 62992.O v 12 n 68 January 1856 p 177
Accession number 62992.O