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Pitt Rivers Museum

2023.47.27

Manufactured scrimshaw.


2023.47.27

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Manufactured scrimshaw.
Long description
Manufactured "fakeshaw" whale tooth scrimshaw made of synthetic plastic. Obverse: Full-length portrait of Rachel Pringle Polgreen, likely copied from Thomas Rowlandson's etching, wearing frilled and low-cut dress, jewellery, pointed slippers, and a striped turban or tignon; labeled (below) "RACHEL PRINGLE of BARBADOES [sic]." Reverse: Flying fish.
Cultural groups
English
Person
Maker Grooveport Ltd.
Field collector Audrey Butt Colson
Associated person Rachel Pringle Polgreen
PRM source Audrey Butt Colson
Date / Period
Date made: Before 2023
Date collected
By 2023
Acquisition information
Donated: 2023
Materials and processes
Material Plastic Synthetic, Process Cast
Dimensions
Length x Width x Height 130 x 57 x 50 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 2023.47.27
Associated publications
Reference: This is how you see her? Rachael Pringle Polgreen of Barbados by Thomas Rowlandson’s satirical hand in Atlantic Studies 19:1, Main author: Temi Odumosu, 2021, Page: 10-33, Notes: Image on the scrimshaw from print in this article. Reference: Fakeshaw: A Checklist of Plastic "Scrimshaw", Main author: Stuart M. Frank; Sharon, Massachusets, 2001, Page: 9, Notes: Design of scrimshaw described and identified.

Search terms: Domestic Object, Hunting, Scrimshaw