Valance, Copperplate Print

Dateca. 1770

Owned by Mary Morrison Coates (1753-1842)

MediumLinen warp and cotton weft

Dimensions11 1/2" x 109"

Credit LineGift of Miss Estelle Sharp.

Object number1971-27,1

DescriptionThis is a valance textile document of natural color linen warp, cotton weft in tabby weave; copperplate-printed in China blue. Design shows scenes from Isaac Bickerstaff's comic opera "The Padlock or The Jealous Husband", first performed at Drury Lane theatre in 1768, and in Williamsburg in 1771. The valance is shaped in wide, even scallops, from which the trim has been removed. This is presumably from the set of original bed hangings purchased from Miss Sharp's family in 1959.
Label TextThis copperplate-printed valance depicts a scene form the comic opera "The Padlock or the Jealous Husband." "The Padlock" premiered on October 3, 1768, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The opera tells the story of an old miser, Don Diego, who keeps his fiancée, Leonora, locked behind closed doors in fear that she will be unfaithful to him. Don Diego’s defenses are foiled by Leonora’s lover, Leander, who scales the wall that surrounds the house where Leonora is kept, with the assistance of Don Diego’s servants, Mungo and Ursula. Upon finding Leander with Leonora, Don Diego realizes that he will never be able to win Leonora’s loyalty and allows her to marry Leander.

Charles Dibdin and Isaac Bickerstaffe based "The Padlock" on Miguel Cervantes’ novella, "The Jealous Old Man from Extremadura." While Cervantes centered his story on the character of the jealous old man, Dibdin and Bickerstaffe focused on his black servant, who they named Mungo. In "The Padlock," Mungo is transformed from an ignorant and gullible eunuch to an assertive and flamboyant servant. Even before he helps Leander breach the walls of Don Diego’s home, Mungo undermines the authority of his master by talking back and refusing to acknowledge his subordinate status.

After the play premiered in London, the word “mungo” became a byword for enslaved black men. In a 1772 print, Julius Soubise, the black companion of Catherine Hyde Douglas, the Duchess of Queensberry, was immortalized as the “Mungo Macaroni,” referencing both his subordinate status as well as his fashionable pretense.

"The Padlock" was a success in London and travelled across the Atlantic premiered in New York City in May 1769. Eventually, all of the major colonial cities premiered their own staging of The Padlock. The opera remained popular in America throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
ProvenanceThis textile was given to Colonial Williamsburg by Estelle Lloyd Sharp (1902-1994). Estelle was the daughter of Joseph Webster Sharp (1867-1950) and Esther Malcom Coates (1870-1968). Esther was the daughter of William Morrison Coates (1845-1937) and Annie Morris Lloyd (1849-1952). William was the son of George Morrison Coates, Jr. (1817-1893) and Anna Troth (1818-1881). George was the son of George Morrison Coates, Sr. (1779-1868) and Rebecca Hornor (b. 1781). George was the son of Josiah Langdale Coates (1747-1809) and the original owner, Mary Morrison (1753-1842).

History of Owner:

Mary Morrison Coates was born to George Morrison (1722-1792) and Mary Warner (1714-1802) on January 13, 1753. She married Josiah Langdale Coates (1747-1809) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 16, 1772. Mary died on October 15, 1842.