Engraving was done after one of John Gabriel Stedman's own drawings, which record his impressions of Surinam. It offers a detailed frontal view of a Surniman planter, who stands in the extreme foregroud of the image; the planter's turned head also provides a profile view of his face. Behind him and to the right, a female slave, wearing only a skirt and a headress, pours him a glass of wine. Stedman described the scene as follows: "His worship now saunters out in his morning dress, which consists of a pair of the finest Holland trowsers, white silk stockings, and red or yellow Morocco slippers; the neck of his shirt open, and nothing over it, a loose flowing night-gown of the finest India chintz excepted. On his head is a cotton night-cap, as thin as a cobweb, and over that an enormous beaver hat, that protects his meagre visage from the sun, which is already the color of mahogany, while his whole carcase seldom weighs above eight or ten stone, being generally exhausted by the climate and dissipation. To give a more complete idea of this fine gentleman, I in the annexed plate present him to the reader with a pipe in his mouth, which almost everywhere accompanies him, and receiving a glass of Madeira wine and water, from a female quaderoon slave, to refresh him during his walk." (vol. 2, p. 56), Plate XLIX in John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative, of a five year's expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 (London: Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard, & J. Edwards, Pall Mall, 1796), vol. II, facing p. 56., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator
Blake, William, 1757-1827, engraver
Date
Dec. 2, 1793
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1796 Sted 755.Q v 2 p 56, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2698
