The Card Player
Title
The card player Engraved from the original picture in the possession of William J. Hoppin Esq
Description
Genre print showing a card game between a card sharp and an older gentleman traveler in a waiting room. The gamblers sit at a table, under the guise of a young male referee standing and smoking a pipe. The young card player stirs a hot toddy and hides a card under his thigh. The older traveler, his coat on his chair and his hat and umbrella resting beside him, places his hand on a card, and peers past his cheating opponent at a mirror on the wall. The traveler's African American servant sits patiently behind him across from a stove. Debris lays on the floor and several layers of playbills hang on the wall near a pendulum and framed print., After an 1846 painting by Richard Caton Woodville in the collections of the Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI., One of six prints issued in 1850 for the members of the American Art-Union in New York., Gift of David Doret., Hoppin was an Art-Union officer., Described in the Bulletin of the American Art-Union, May 1849, p. 9., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
Burt, Charles Kennedy, 1823-1892, engraver
Date
[1850]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Genre [P.2006.28.24]
The Heathen Chinee. [graphic].
Title
The Smile that was childlike
Description
Print depicting characters from Bret Harte’s 1870 poem “Plain Language from Truthful James” later reprinted as “The Heathen Chinee.” The narrative of the poem focuses on two white men, Bill Nye and “Truthful James,” and a Chinese man named Ah Sin playing the card game Euchre. Bill and James believe Ah Sin is “childlike” and does not comprehend how to play the game. The print shows Bill and James standing in the left on a dirt road and showing playing cards to Ah Sin, who looks on with his hands in his pockets. Ah Sin is depicted in racist caricature and wears a queue hairstyle, a conical hat, gold hoop earrings, a blue tunic and pants, and cloth, slip-on shoes. In the background are mountains and a partial view of a cabin. Later in the poem’s narrative, Bill cheats playing the game by having cards up his sleeve. When Ah Sin plays a card that James already has, it is discovered that Ah Sin is also cheating with decks of cards hidden in his sleeves. Bill proceeds to fight Ah Sin. Bret Harte’s poem “Plain Language from Truthful James,” satirizing anti-Chinese sentiment, was originally published in the Overland Monthly Magazine in September, 1870. It became widely popular and was reprinted and republished as “The Heathen Chinee” in several illustrated series in pamphlet and loose print form., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Print contains registrations marks., See related: GC-Genre [P.2007.39.24]., Gift of David Doret.
Date
[ca. 1870]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC-Genre [P.2007.39.23]
The Smile that was childlike. [graphic].
Title
The Smile that was childlike
Description
Print depicting characters from Bret Harte’s 1870 poem “Plain Language from Truthful James” later reprinted as “The Heathen Chinee.” The narrative of the poem focuses on two white men, Bill Nye and “Truthful James,” and a Chinese man named Ah Sin playing the card game Euchre. Bill and James believe Ah Sin is “childlike” and does not comprehend how to play the game. The print shows Bill and James standing in the left on a dirt road and showing playing cards to Ah Sin, who looks on with his hands in his pockets. Ah Sin is depicted in racist caricature and wears a queue hairstyle, a conical hat, gold hoop earrings, a blue tunic and pants, and cloth, slip-on shoes. In the background are mountains and a partial view of a cabin. Later in the poem’s narrative, Bill cheats playing the game by having cards up his sleeve. When Ah Sin plays a card that James already has, it is discovered that Ah Sin is also cheating with decks of cards hidden in his sleeves. Bill proceeds to fight Ah Sin. Bret Harte’s poem “Plain Language from Truthful James,” satirizing anti-Chinese sentiment, was originally published in the Overland Monthly Magazine in September, 1870. It became widely popular and was reprinted and republished as “The Heathen Chinee” in several illustrated series in pamphlet and loose print form., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Print contains registrations marks., See related: GC-Genre [P.2007.39.24]., Gift of David Doret.
Date
[ca. 1870]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC-Genre [P.2007.39.23]