Not currently on display at the V&A

James Gillray : The Suppressed Plates

Print
1793 (first published), ca. 1850 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Two plates from an album containing 45 numbered prints on wove paper, the majority printed two per page, recto only. Numbered 31 and 32 respectively, number 31 depicts George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, seated on a throne, receiving with some degree of shock, a deputation from Turkey. The Turkish emissary is holding a document before him, resembling a large phallus with two heavy pendant seals dangling at the back. Cowering behind this figure are Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, holding the end of the emissary's long, elaborate cloak. They are both wearing bonnets-rouges decorated with crescents. Behind them, Joseph Priestley bows sycophantically towards the King and Queen in front of a group of Turkish onlookers, bearing flags and holding spears in the background. William Pitt is depicted as a naked person of diminutive size, grasping at the King's leg in terror and urinating. He is chained around the waist, attached to a heavy crown in the foreground. The King himself appears petrified, biting his nails and stretching his arm protectively across the Queen, who hides her face behind a fan. Her face betrays a look of excitement and three of the elder princesses peep out from behind the throne to the left of the Queen, similarly titillated. Lettered with titles, artist's initials, and the original publisher's name and address.

The second print on the same page is entitled 'The French Invasion' and depicts a comic map of England and Wales with most of the counties inscribed, the outline of the Scottish borders and the east coast of Ireland, the Isle of Mann, the north French coast as far as Paris, stretching east to include the Belgian coast and the port city of Ostend. Between Yorkshire and Northumberland is the face of George III, with Northumberland shaped into a fool's cap, and England representing his body. The knee is formed by Norfolk, the shin is Essex, and the foot, Kent. On the south coast, the junction of Sussex and Hampshire becomes the point of excretion, with the caption 'British Declaration' inscribed amidst the faeces raining down on the French coast and a flotilla of ships in the Channel. Lettered with title, 'John Schoebert fecit', and the original publisher's name and address.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • James Gillray : The Suppressed Plates (popular title)
  • Presentation of the Mahometan Credentials (assigned by artist)
  • The French Invasion; or - John Bull bombarding the Bum-Boats (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Engravings on wove paper
Brief description
Two plates from an album of 40 'suppressed' caricatures featuring sexual, scatalogical and politically outrageous subject matter by James Gillray (1756-1815). Issued mid-19th century.
Physical description
Two plates from an album containing 45 numbered prints on wove paper, the majority printed two per page, recto only. Numbered 31 and 32 respectively, number 31 depicts George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, seated on a throne, receiving with some degree of shock, a deputation from Turkey. The Turkish emissary is holding a document before him, resembling a large phallus with two heavy pendant seals dangling at the back. Cowering behind this figure are Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, holding the end of the emissary's long, elaborate cloak. They are both wearing bonnets-rouges decorated with crescents. Behind them, Joseph Priestley bows sycophantically towards the King and Queen in front of a group of Turkish onlookers, bearing flags and holding spears in the background. William Pitt is depicted as a naked person of diminutive size, grasping at the King's leg in terror and urinating. He is chained around the waist, attached to a heavy crown in the foreground. The King himself appears petrified, biting his nails and stretching his arm protectively across the Queen, who hides her face behind a fan. Her face betrays a look of excitement and three of the elder princesses peep out from behind the throne to the left of the Queen, similarly titillated. Lettered with titles, artist's initials, and the original publisher's name and address.

The second print on the same page is entitled 'The French Invasion' and depicts a comic map of England and Wales with most of the counties inscribed, the outline of the Scottish borders and the east coast of Ireland, the Isle of Mann, the north French coast as far as Paris, stretching east to include the Belgian coast and the port city of Ostend. Between Yorkshire and Northumberland is the face of George III, with Northumberland shaped into a fool's cap, and England representing his body. The knee is formed by Norfolk, the shin is Essex, and the foot, Kent. On the south coast, the junction of Sussex and Hampshire becomes the point of excretion, with the caption 'British Declaration' inscribed amidst the faeces raining down on the French coast and a flotilla of ships in the Channel. Lettered with title, 'John Schoebert fecit', and the original publisher's name and address.
Dimensions
  • Height: 63.5cm
  • Sheet width: 48.3cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Pubd. Dec 26th 1793 by H Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street (Lettered underneath the throne in plate 31)
  • Pubd No 5th 1793, by H Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street (Lettered underneath plate 32)
Credit line
Gift from the Ministry of Justice
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Collection
Accession number
E.685:18-2014

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Record createdOctober 27, 2014
Record URL
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