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Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
JAMES A. M. WHISTLER Thames Police.
Etching and drypoint on thin, cream laid Japan paper, 1859. 151x221 mm; 5 7/8x8 7/8 inches, full margins. MacDonald's third state (of 5). Signed with the butterfly and inscribed "imp" in pencil, lower left. Ex-collection H. H. Benedict (see Lugt 1298). A brilliant, richly-inked impression with all the fine lines distinct.
The Marine Police, established in 1798, became the Thames Division of the Metropolitan Police in 1839. In this view, Whistler shows their brick and bay-windowed structure on the banks of the Thames at Wapping Wharf, with the skiffs and marine patrol boats pulled up on the river bank.
Signed, early proofs of this subject like the current work are exceedingly scarce. H. H. Benedict (1901-1984), who once owned this impression, had one of the foremost collections of Whistler etchings and lithographs in the United States in the early 20th century. Kennedy 44; Glasgow 53.
