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Tobacconist Figure: Theatrical Lady
No image number on slide

Tobacconist Figure: Theatrical Lady

Date1875-1890
Attributed to William Demuth and Company
OriginAmerica, New York, New York City
MediumPainted pine
DimensionsOverall: 41 9/16 x 12 3/4 x 12 3/4in. (105.6 x 32.4 x 32.4cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1970.705.1
DescriptionA freestanding, relatively small, polychromed wood, female figure wearing a turban decorated with a crescent and star. Her blue, gold-fringed skirt is pulled up above her knees and secured at the back. She has long, reddish- brown hair that falls loose down her back to below her waist in three long tresses. Her bodice is red (with patches of darker blue paint showing beneath the red). Her button-up high-heeled boots come to mid-calf, with red stockings fastened above her knees. She has blue eyes and her mouth is slightly open. Her proper left hand holds a bunch of cigars, and her other hand is raised towards her mouth. She wears gold bracelets on her wrists. The figure is attached to a low, square base.
Label TextThe cigars in the woman's lowered hand indicate that she was made to advertise tobacco, but virtually identical figures also appeared in theaters and lobbies as simple, if slightly provocative, decorations. Her garb is conventional for her profession. Women who performed in circuses and on the vaudeville stage wore similar attire, as did curtain raisers for musical plays. In short, this woman appears dressed for a role in some form of popular entertainment, and she was labeled a "theatrical" figure in period catalogues.
A larger, differently-painted version of the carving appeared in the Illustrated Catalogue of Smoker's Articles and Show Figures printed by William Demuth & Company in 1875. Competing manufacturers sometimes pirated show figure designs from one another, so the Museum's lady may have come from a different source. Demuth is known to have offered his carving in two or three sizes, however, and finish painting would have been done to order. Therefore, the figure is ascribed to Demuth with only minor reservations. Demuth's catalogue illustration is a mirror image of the actual carving, because the engraver depicted the figure just as he saw it. When the plate was pressed to the paper, the image was reversed.





ProvenanceIn 1937, owned by the New England Antiques Shop, Boston, Mass. (see n. 1); in 1970, bought by CWF at the estate sale of Mrs. John Law Robertson, Montrose, Pennsylvania.

n. 1: In the object file, see the background data on the watercolor rendering of this figure recorded at the Index of American Design, NGA, Washington, DC
Exhibition(s)