| Creator |
Summers, William, artist. |
| Contributor |
Hunt, Charles, engraver. |
|
Isaacs, Harrison, publisher. |
| Title |
Life in Philadelphia. "Shall I hab de honour to dance de next quadrille...?" [graphic] / Chas. Hunt, Sc. |
| Publisher |
London: Pub. by Harrison Isaacs, Charles St. Soho Sqre |
| Publisher |
ENG. London. 1831 |
| Date |
[ca. 1831] |
| Physical Description |
1 print: hand-colored aquatint; 36 x 28 cm (14.25 x 10.75 in.) |
| Description |
Racist caricature ridiculing the etiquette of attendees of an African American dance ball. Depicts, in the right and in profile,
"Mr. Cato," an African American man dressed in a blue coat with tails, white pantaloons and stockings, ruffled white shirt,
red cravat, white gloves, a gold neck fob, and black slipper shoes bowing with his hat in his hand to invite "Miss Minta"
to dance. In the left, "Miss Minta," a curvaceous African American woman, forward facing, her head turned to the right, and
dressed in a yellow, cap-sleeved gown with an apron detail, a large pink headpiece, white opera gloves, and several pieces
of jewelry, including a neck fob, bracelets, armlets, and red earrings, declines his invitation because she is already "engaged
for de nine next set." She also slightly holds up the lower right corner of her apron with her right hand. The figures are
portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. Scene also includes
a wooden chair with a red padded seat partially visible in the left foreground and background imagery depicting the interior
of a ballroom with a large mirror and other African American men and women ball attendees portrayed with exaggerated features.
|
| Notes |
Title from item. |
|
Date inferred from content. |
|
After the work of Edward W. Clay. |
|
Attributed to William Summers. |
|
Inscribed: Plate 6. |
|
Shane White and Graham White's Stylin':African American Expressive Culture (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 98.
(LCP Ii 4, A2880.O).
|
|
Charles Hunt was a respected 19th-century London engraver who was most known for his aquatints of sporting subjects. |
|
RVCDC |
|
Description revised 2021. |
|
Access points revised 2021. |
|
Acquired in 1968. |
| Subject |
African Americans -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American women -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American women -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African Americans -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Balls (Parties) -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Conversation. |
|
Middle-class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Racism in popular culture. |
| Genre |
Caricatures -- 1830-1840. |
|
Aquatints -- Hand-colored -- 1830-1840. |
| Printer |
Isaacs, Harrison, publisher. |
| Location |
Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [7658.F] |
| Accession number |
7658.F |
