"Sponging"

In front of a building with clapboard siding, a thin, unshaven man (center) stands holding up a wet sponge to the mouth of a bay horse still harnessed to a buggy. The stable hand is dressed in a red shirt (with sleeves rolled up), brown pants, black boots and a black cap. A green bucket is near the man's feet. At left, inside a doorway (labeled "BAR ROOM"), two men stand facing each other-- each holding a drink. The well-dressed man (right) wears a long cream coat and a black top hat, while the disheveled man (left) is dressed in a bluish workman's jacket, dark pants, and a dark, crumpled fedora hat. Behind them, a bartender stands at the bar in front of two rows of bottles. At the right of the image, a well-dressed man (wearing a top hat and suit) stands on the porch watching the horse getting its drink. On the dirt roat at the far right, another buggy approaches. The print's title is imprinted in the bottom margin.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of 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. The artist of this print is Thomas Worth, a prolific nineteenth-century illustrator who excelled at drawing horses and other subjects, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives.