Carington Bowles
A New Method of Macarony Making, as practiced at Boston in North America

Public Domain

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PublisherPublished by Carington Bowles(English, 1723–1793)English, 1723–1793

CultureEnglish

Titles

A New Method of Macarony Making, as practiced at Boston in North America

Date1775

Printed inLondon, England

MediumEtching and engraving on laid paper

DimensionsPlate: 13 1/8 × 19 1/2 in. (33.3 × 49.5 cm)
Sheet: 14 3/4 × 20 3/8 in. (37.5 × 51.8 cm)
Frame (outer): 21 × 27 in. (53.3 × 68.6 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, Museum purchase funded by Greg Curran, Ralph Eads, Jeffery D. Hildebrand, and Anthony G. Petrello, in honor of their wives, Hilda Curran, Lisa Eads, Mindy Hildebrand, and Cynthia Petrello, at "One Great Night in November, 2012"

Object numberB.2013.2

Not on view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

PRINTS

DescriptionThis engraving is one of the rarest contemporary depictions of the events that led up to the American Revolution. It was published shortly after the Boston Tea Party, when in December 1773 a band of colonists, disguised as American Indians, boarded three British merchant vessels, confiscated their cargo and tossed overboard 342 chests filled with taxed tea. Carrington Bowles’s satire deviates from the historical record. At times, its humor, like the actions it lampoons, is coarse, as shown by the graphic image of an individual relieving himself into a teapot. The composition centers on John Malcolm, the British Collector of Customs, as its title parodies his makeover into a Macarony, a period term for a dandy. Malcolm was tarred and feathered (what the British dubbed an “American suit”) and is about to be led off to the gallows. Fortunately, he was spared and subsequently returned to England.
Provenance Research Ongoing Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below plate, left: For the Custom House Officers landing the Tea, / They Tarr'd him, and Feather'd him, just as you see,
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below plate, center: A New Method of MACARONY MAKING, / as practiſed at BOSTON in NORTH AMERICA.
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below plate, center bottom edge: Printed for CARINGTON BOWLES, at his Map and Print Warehouſe, No. 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, London. Published as the Act directs, June 2d. 1775.
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below plate, right: 52 / And they drench'd him so well both behind and before / That he begg'd for God's sake they would drench him no more.
Verso: Inscribed in graphite, center: 3 P

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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