Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
January 1, 1809
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 38
Additional Source Text:
Poulson's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 23 Aug 1809 reads: "A Blacksmith's shop of Monkies -- representing a Politician reading glorious news from Europe, the smith resting on his hammer and the Bellows-blower on his lever, attentively listening, while the iron cools and the fire grows dull. Horse shoes, hinges, and the various tools of the profession about the shop -- a small parcel of old iron bought for cash -- shoeing box, memorandum slate, &c."
Notes:
Singerie is a French word for “monkey trick” and is the name given to arts depicting monkeys aping human behavior. Most singerie was in the form of paintings, prints, or interior decoration such as wallpaper and tapestries, but the Peale Museum's display was more likely a three-dimensional model using taxidermied animals.
"In 1809 Mr. Peale commenced a collection of stuffed monkeys, dressed as human beings, and engaged in some of the occupations familiar to man. The first exhibition represented a poet and a painter, with another individual sitting for his portrait in the artists' studio. Others followed, and in each new group some comical effect was obtained. Monkeys were represented as engaged in the various trades, and the contrast between their grave occupations and their mischievous faces and ridiculous attitudes was extremely amusing. Peale's monkey tradesmen live in the memory of many aged Philadelphians." J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, in their History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1884), 2: 947
Search "singerie" for two other similar displays in the Peale Museum.
