Buy a Broom

Attributed to John Thomson (Scottish, 1837 - 1921)

Dateca. 1870

MediumAlbumen print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 3 7/16 × 2 1/8 inches (8.69 × 5.41 cm)
Mount: 4 1/8 × 2 7/16 inches (10.49 × 6.15 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2015.67.68

Signednone

InscribedPrinted captions on paper, attached to mount verso, in black type: "Buy a Broom. / Clean, soft, useful brooms are these / which are hawked about for sale--gen- / erally manufactured during the winter / in farm houses, of the soft leaves of / bamboo or of the palmetto palm--they / are an indispensable article of domestic / comfort. A coolie armed with one of / these, as effectually roots out dust as an / English house maid with a duster, often / too with gentler touch, the short ones / without handles are used for cleansing / cooking utensils such as pots and pans, / and the little tubs of nice looking wood / in which rice is served."

Markingsnone

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DescriptionHand colored image of young girl, coolie, wearing layers of tattered clothes with arms full of small handmade brooms.

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