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Discharging the Pilot

After Charles Parsons American
Publisher Lithographed and published by Nathaniel Currier American
1856
Not on view
Marine views and other pictures of ships at sea have long appealed to collectors and popular taste. Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Discharging the Pilot
  • Artist: After Charles Parsons (American (born England), Hampshire 1821–1910 New York)
  • Publisher: Lithographed and published by Nathaniel Currier (American, Roxbury, Massachusetts 1813–1888 New York)
  • Date: 1856
  • Medium: Hand-colored lithograph
  • Dimensions: Image: 16 in. × 24 1/8 in. (40.6 × 61.2 cm)
    Image (with text): 17 1/8 × 24 1/8 in. (43.5 × 61.2 cm)
    Sheet: 21 5/16 × 27 9/16 in. (54.2 × 70 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962
  • Object Number: 63.550.59
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Clipper Ship "Red Jacket" – In the Ice off Cape Horn, on Her Passage from Australia, to Liverpool, August 1854, Charles Parsons American, Hand-colored lithograph
Clipper Ship "Red Jacket" – In the Ice off Cape Horn, on Her Passage from Australia, to Liverpool, August 1854
Charles Parsons
After Joseph B. Smith
Publisher Lithographed and published by Nathaniel Currier
1855
Powder Horn, Horn (cow), lead, American
Powder Horn
American
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Nocturne (Nocturne: The Thames at Battersea), James McNeill Whistler American, Lithotint with scraping on a prepared half-tint ground, printed in soft gray-black ink on pale blue laid chine mounted on ivory wove plate paper; second state of two (Chicago)
Nocturne (Nocturne: The Thames at Battersea)
James McNeill Whistler
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An Interior View of the New York Crystal Palace, Charles Parsons American, Color lithograph
An Interior View of the New York Crystal Palace
Drawn and lithographed by Charles Parsons
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Publisher George S. Appleton, New York
1853
Figured flask, Blown-molded glass, American
Figured flask
American
1820–30

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