print; satirical print

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Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1878,1109.38
Title: Object: The Bottle Companions. Les Companions de la Bouteille.
Description: Satire on drunkeness and on alleged paternity: two men, one young and one older, sleep on chairs beside a table on which are two glasses, a bottle of port and another of claret, a tobacco paper and two half-burnt candles; on the floor are other bottles, some broken, and a broken clay pipe. A young woman, apparently a servant, creeps through a door on the right and deposits a baby in a basket at their feet. On the wall behind is a picture of a convivial drinking scene, the older man's hat and a clock showing that the time is twenty-five mintues to twelve. Mezzotint
Producer name: Published by: Sayer & Bennett
School/style: British
Production date: 1775
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials: paper
Technique: mezzotint
Dimensions: Height: 326 millimetres (cut); Width: 250 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: ee also 1877,1013.858 - the same image but with many differences of detail, probably from a different plate, and with lettering in lower margin.
Bibliographic references: BM Satires / Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (4622); Sayer/Laurie & Whittle Posture Mezzotints / Catalogue of prints for the year 1775 (75); Chaloner Smith 1883 / British Mezzotinto portraits from the introduction of the art to the early part of the present century (undescribed) (but listed p. 1754)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: satire; drunkenness; child (illegitimate); servant/domestic worker
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau
Acquisition date: 1878
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1878,1109.38

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