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GUTTENBERG, Carl Gottleib (1743-1790)
The Tea Tempest, or the Anglo-American Revolution
Paris: 1778. Engraving and etching. Scratch letter proof, on antique laid watermarked paper. Sheet size: 16 1/8 x 19 1/4 inches.
The composition repeats (in reverse) the mezzotint by John Dixon, The Oracle, published by the artist in 1774.
"With is magic lantern resting on a globe of the world, Father Time projects onto a curtain a scene that he is explaining to four female personifications of the continents. America, in Indian dress, sits apart on bales of goods. Africa is astonished by what she sees on the screen, and Europe, looking very much like Britannia, her eyes rolled upward, seems on the verge of fainting into Asia's arms. In the illuminated scene a whirlpool of activity is centered about a fire being fanned by a cock jumping on bellows. In the heat, a teapot explodes into a cloud of steam, which sends a snake and a liberty cap and pole into the air. Beyond the smoke, British soldiers clamped in stocks push to join their fleeing ranks, while, to the right, an Indian maiden, reaching for the flying liberty cap, leads well-ordered colonial troops under a banner with a serpent on a striped field. Beneath the burst of steam a British lion sleeps. To the far left, a lion, lioness and bear squabble. In the foreground of the projected image lies the British royal standard, soiled and torn."
Ref. Ulrich Thieme and Fred C. Willis, Allgemeines Lexicon der bilden Kunstler, 37 volumes (Leipzig: E.A. Seeman, 1903-47) 359; George, Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires, 5, nos. 5490, 6190; E. McClung Flemin
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#3422 $3,950.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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