Rigging Out a Smuggler

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A scene between decks, with a woman at center surrounded by admiring sailors. She wears chemise and petticoat, inscribed "Gum Elastic," with two huge pockets inscribed "Japan Old China" and "Tea," a cask of "Coniac" and a canister are tied to her waist, and a bottle of "Otto or Roses" is between her breasts. Her hat and gown hang from a nail at right. She puts her hand amorously on the smiling sailor's head. Another sailor sits behind him, smoking and drinking. There are chests of "Souchon" and "Congo" tea, and bottles of "arrack."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art