Details

The Ludicrous Operator, or Blacksmith Turn'd Tooth Drawer

HC.J.16.X.100

Artist Unknown (originator), John Bowles (agent)

Designed by J. harris (1686-1739) and improved by drawings 'after the life' by J. Dixon (c. 1739-90). Mezzotint, possibly by J. S. Neges (d.1792). The scene is the interior of an 18th century smithy. The blacksmith is extracting, with outsize forceps of his own construction, a maxillary central incisor tooth for an elderly woman who clutches his turban with one hand and squeezes her hat with the other. The husband watches with apprehension and disaprroval while the blacksmith looks more jovial. The composition is the same a HC.J.16.X.32, 62, 78 but both title and legend have been altered, thus suggesting plagiarism. The altered legend reads: Why squeeze your Hat, seize my Cap, As if you dreaded some Mishap? Keep not your Spirits on the Rack, I'm a Licentiate: not a Quack. Companion to HC.J.16.X.99