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The Bone Player

1857
Not on view
Five years before the Civil War, Mount received a commission from the French publisher Goupil and Company, through William Schaus their New York agent, to paint two works that show African American musicians. Life-sized lithographs based on the paintings were then hand-colored before being sold. This print relates to a painting at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shows a well-dressed figure playing bones, a rythmic instrument associated with Black minstrels. The musician's face and dress convey individuality, while the ivory or bone strips he holds associates him a type exotically appealing to Europeans. This version of the print was published in New York, indicating a market on both sides of the Atlantic.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Bone Player
  • Lithographer: Jean-Baptiste Adolphe Lafosse (French, Paris 1810–1879 Paris)
  • Artist: After William Sidney Mount (American, Setauket, New York 1807–1868 Setauket, New York)
  • Publisher: William Schaus (American, 1821–1892)
  • Printer: François Delarue (French, active 1850–70)
  • Date: 1857
  • Medium: Hand-colored lithograph
  • Dimensions: image: 25 x 19 3/4 in. (63.5 x 50.2 cm)
    sheet: 32 x 24 1/4 in. (81.3 x 61.6 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Leonard L. Milberg Gift, 1998
  • Object Number: 1998.416
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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