Law, als een tweede Don-Quichot, op, Sanches graauwtje zit ten spot [graphic].

[Netherlands?] : [publisher not identified], [1720]

1 print : etching ; plate mark 21.6 x 28.4 cm, on sheet 33 x 41 cm

laid paper.

"Satire on the financial crisis in 1720. Law is mounted on a braying ass hung about with bags of money and a chest labelled "Bombarioos Geld Kist 1720"; he holds a flag labelled, "Ik koom ik koom Dulcinia" in reference to the lady in Don Quixote. A devil squirts a clyster-pipe into the mouth of the donkey which is dragged by chains from a metal collar, towards the Quinquenpoix coffee-house whose keeper is Dulcinea; the crowd includes a Jew, a sailor and working men as well as merchants. Behind Law sits a devil who holds up the ass's tail while it voids shares and paper money which a mixed crowd runs forward to grab; another devil wearing a fool's cap and carrying a scouge hovers above. Beside the ass, Bombario as Sancho Panza, wearing a robe decorated with fish-hooks and with a quill behind his ear, is perched on a large toad or frog; he hands a bag of money to Law. In the foreground, to left, a group of objects connected with worthwhile trade have been kicked aside: the caduceus of Mercury, ledgers, a portable desk, coins, papers, a bale, barrel and roll of tobacco. In the background, ships sail on the South Sea. Engraved Dutch title, inscriptions, and verses in three columns."--British Museum online catalogue.

Dutch

July 13, 2009

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 2, no. 1662