A richly dressed but grotesque and balding old lady sits before her dressing table holding a lap dog and attended by a leering hairdresser and his assistant. The former places on her head a huge wig with side curls, flowers on the front and a profusion of ostrich plumes on top. Draperies adorn the dressing table and window, and patterned wall paper and carpet are visible
Alternative Title:
New fashioned head dress for young misses of three score and ten
Description:
Title from item.
Publisher:
Printed for John Bowles, No. 13 in Cornhill
Subject (Geographic):
England
Subject (Topic):
Hairstyles, Hairdressing, Clothing & dress, and Interiors
"A lady stands at her dressing-table (right), her hair in an enormous pyramid decorated with feathers torn from a peacock, an ostrich and a cock. A young girl wearing a hat holds the peacock by a wing; another wearing a cap tugs hard at one of its tail feathers (which are very unlike peacock's feathers). An ostrich (left), which has lost most of its tail feathers, is about to pluck out those which ornament the lady's hair. A cock stands in the foreground (right), having lost almost all its tail feathers, many of which lie on the floor. A black servant wearing a turban stands on his mistress's right, handing feathers from a number which he holds in his left hand. The lady, who faces three-quarter to the right, is elaborately dressed in the fashion of the day. Her pyramid of hair is decorated with lappets of lace and festoons of jewels as well as with feathers. She wears large earrings, a necklace with a cross, her bodice is cut very low, and her elbow sleeves have lace ruffles. A pannelled wall forms the background."--British Museum online catalog
Description:
Title from caption below image. and Printmaker identified as Philip Dawe by Dorothy George. See British Museum catalogue.
Publisher:
Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, No. 53 Fleet Street
Two grotesque figures of a well-dressed man and woman stand before a background of Corinthian pillars topped with Doric capitals. The man points with his left hand to his mouth and grimaces at the viewer
Description:
Title from item., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., First published by Carington Bowles on 20 October 1775; original publication date burnished from the plate. Cf. Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 5, p. 786., Date of publication inferred from paper and from date of the Bowles & Carver partnership formed after the 1793 death of Carington Bowles. See Plomer, H.R. Dictionaries of printers and booksellers, p. 31., and Numbered in plate: 332.
Publisher:
Printed for Bowles & Carver at their Map & Print Warehouse, No.69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, London
"A stout, ugly, and elderly woman holds in her left hand a barber's block, with a carved head in profile, on which is an elaborate pyramidal wig with ringlets. This she is covering with powder or flour from a dredger. Her hair is short and scanty; on her head is a very large black patch, two smaller ones are on her temple. She is dressed in undergarments, showing stays, and frilled petticoat over which is worn a pocket. Her dress, the bodice of which is almost cylindrical from its stiffening whalebone, is on a stool behind her. Her back is turned to the casement window (right) through which look two grinning old women, wearing frilled muslin caps. Over the window, and over the wall on its left, is a heavily festooned curtain. Sacarissa stands facing a low rectangular table (left), on which are a bottle and wine-glass, a candle (?) in a triangular shade, which is falling over, having apparently been knocked by the wig, patches, a comb, a paper, &c. Behind on the wall, in deep shadow, is a picture of a dome inscribed "The Pantheon"."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title engraved below image., Attributed to Philip Dawe in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and One line of quoted text beneath title: "She blooms in the winter of her days, like the Glastonbury thorn".
"A macaroni dressed in a grotesque exaggeration of the prevailing fashion. His hair is in a high pyramid with side curls, an enormous club hangs down his back. A small three-cornered hat is perched on the top of his hair. He wears a large nosegay. He stands in a mincing attitude by a toilet-table, draped with muslin on which are boxes and toilet jars, the latter inscribed "essence" and "Rose". The wall is panelled and ornamented with mouldings; the floor is carpeted and there are two cane-seated chairs of an unusual pattern [This probably represents the dress of 'Lord P-----' as a macaroni buck at the Pantheon masquerade of 12 May 1773. See 'Oxford Magazine', x. p. 179, where his dress is described]."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a proof state
Description:
Title from item., State with letters, as described in the British Museum catalogue from a print not in the British Museum collection. For a proof state before letters, see No. 5221 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 5., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., and Temporary local subject terms: Male fashion, 1773 -- Macaronies -- Dressing room -- Furniture -- Carpet.