Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One of decorative hand-cranked sewing machines built by the D.W. Clarke company of Bridgeport Conn. between 1858 and 1860.
Thank you and holy moley. That is far, far and away the most imposing sewing machine this particular hillbilly ever saw. Also the silliest, by a similar margin. New horizons, man.
Has anybody got a semi-informed guess about what the infants represent? I'm thinking like Industry and Thrift or something. As to their facial resemblance to middle-aged men*, no guess however ignorant and wild has presented itself to me so far.
Anyway. :Ahem.: Thanks again, Mr. G.
* The near-side baby resembles both George Washington and Jeremiah Dixon. The other one could be nearly any well-fed gentleman of the Georgian era. Coincidence? Perhaps.
Decorative cherubs. Got a image of this exact photo in the LIFE encyclopedia of 1968, under MACHINES. Author (of the book) stated that these decorations were soon abandoned because of their costs (although there is some text about them representing Speed but sorry, last time I read it was a few years ago)
but then there is this thing called the internet :)
I pored over those LIFE science books when I was a kid. I try not use them for posts (OK, I did once before:-) because I'm sure they were a staple in a lot of households. But I didn't find any other pictures of that ridiculous thing anywhere else! João is right, decorative cherubs, probably cast iron cherubs at that- because it was the middle of the 19th c.
ReplyDeleteThank you and holy moley. That is far, far and away the most imposing sewing machine this particular hillbilly ever saw. Also the silliest, by a similar margin. New horizons, man.
Has anybody got a semi-informed guess about what the infants represent? I'm thinking like Industry and Thrift or something. As to their facial resemblance to middle-aged men*, no guess however ignorant and wild has presented itself to me so far.
Anyway. :Ahem.: Thanks again, Mr. G.
* The near-side baby resembles both George Washington and Jeremiah Dixon. The other one could be nearly any well-fed gentleman of the Georgian era. Coincidence? Perhaps.
Decorative cherubs. Got a image of this exact photo in the LIFE encyclopedia of 1968, under MACHINES. Author (of the book) stated that these decorations were soon abandoned because of their costs (although there is some text about them representing Speed but sorry, last time I read it was a few years ago)
ReplyDeletebut then there is this thing called the internet :)
https://media.karousell.com/media/photos/products/2020/7/18/life_science_library_encyclope_1595065222_0d8654ab_progressive.jpg
I pored over those LIFE science books when I was a kid. I try not use them for posts (OK, I did once before:-) because I'm sure they were a staple in a lot of households. But I didn't find any other pictures of that ridiculous thing anywhere else! João is right, decorative cherubs, probably cast iron cherubs at that- because it was the middle of the 19th c.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere there's a book with a colour picture of it
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pinterest.pt/pin/299911656429044997/
Time LIFE books again!:-)
ReplyDelete