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1960-126, Print
The BOSTONIAN'S Paying the EXCISE-MAN, or TARRING & FEATHERING
1960-126, Print

The BOSTONIAN'S Paying the EXCISE-MAN, or TARRING & FEATHERING

DateOctober 31, 1774
Attributed to Philip Dawe
Publisher Robert Sayer (1725-1794) & John Bennett (fl. 1760-1787)
OriginEngland, London
MediumMezzotint on laid paper with period hand color
DimensionsOH: 13 3/4" x OW: 10 1/4"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1960-126
DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "The BOSTONIANS Paying the EXCISE-MAN, of TARRING & FEATHERING/ Plate I./ London Printed for Rob.t Sayer & J. Bennett, Map & Printseller, N.o 69, Fleet Street as the Act directs 31, Oct.r 1774."
Label TextThis print depicts John Malcom, a British customs official in Boston, being tarred and feathered. A "Liberty Tree" becomes the gallows in the print, and the tar bucket and dabbler can be seen in the lower left corner, Malcolm is depicted spewing out the tea that he is being forced to drink. The background vignette is of the Boston Tea Party in progress.

Three weeks after the appearance of "A new Method of Macarony Making, As Practised At Boston", the firm of Robert Sayer and Jonh Bennett published its version of the tarring and feathering of Malcolm. It is more complex in design and has no accompanying verse of explanation. Sayer and Bennett eventually compiled these satires on pre-Revolutionary events into a bound volume; the plate marks on the print indicate their placement in the work. The background event of the Boston Tea Party is frequently extracted from the print and used to illustrate the tea party.
ProvenanceEx coll: H. Dunscombe Colt. Other known copies: Halsey collection at Brown; New York Historical Society (they also have a lithograph of this done in New York ca. 1837).