Defrauding the Customs, or Shipping the Goods Not Fairly Entered

Defrauding the Customs, or Shipping the Goods Not Fairly Entered

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Naval officers carry off two women on the seashore, as an old woman and man chase after them, the man losing his hat and wig. A group of schoolgirls stand in awe at right beneath a sign that reads, "Mrs Crostich's Boarding School for Young Ladies."


Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Defrauding the Customs, or Shipping the Goods Not Fairly EnteredDefrauding the Customs, or Shipping the Goods Not Fairly EnteredDefrauding the Customs, or Shipping the Goods Not Fairly EnteredDefrauding the Customs, or Shipping the Goods Not Fairly EnteredDefrauding the Customs, or Shipping the Goods Not Fairly Entered

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.