The GOOD HOUSE-WIFE.

Dateca. 1745

Publisher Carington Bowles 1724 - 1793

MediumMezzotint engraving on laid paper with hand coloring

DimensionsOH: 18 1/8" x OW: 11 1/2"; Plate H: 13 7/8" x W: 9 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958-357

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "The GOOD HOUSE-WIFE./ Woman, when virtuous, free from Sloth & Vice,/ Greater by far, than Rubies is her price:/ Heaven crowns her Labour with a penteous Store,/ To feed her Houshold, and relieve the Poor./ Printed for CARINTON BOWLES, Map & Printseller, at N.o 69 in S.t Pauls Church Yard, LONDON."Label TextA moral print representing the ideal housewife. A young woman sits at a table. She is copying or checking a sheet of paper on the table against a book in her lap. An inkwell and pen stand on the table beside the paper. It may be that she is taking iventory of her stores. On the floor of the room are several bundles of various shapes tied with string and a basket full of bottles.ProvenanceBefore 1958, F. & G. Staack (Camden, Maine); 1958-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).