Collection Highlights
Three Iroquois: Atotárho Protected by Black Snakes, Flanked by Deganawida Offering Wampum and Hiawatha
c. 1827
X.520[dup]
Watercolor, black and brown ink, and brown gouache over graphite on beige paper, laid on canvas
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Museum Collections
American Board and Table Games: The Liman Collection Gift
The Game of Watermelon Patch
Title
The Game of Watermelon Patch
Date
1896
Medium
Cardboard, paper, wood, metal
Dimensions
box: 1 x 19 5/8 x 10 1/8 in. ( 2.5 x 49.8 x 25.7 cm )
Description
"The Game of Watermelon Patch" in a paper covered wood and cardboard box; box cover chromolithographed with a caricature of three black men, one playing an accordion and the others dancing, by the light of a lantern in a watermelon patch; interior of the box decorated with a watermelon patch with vines running across, with 22 slits cut out in rows; 23 cardboard watermelons, with holes cut through to be caught by, and with numbers printed on one side; 2 wooden poles with string threaded through holes at end, with metal hooks at end of line; instructions printed on inside of cover.
Credit Line
The Liman Collection
Object Number
2000.300
Marks
lithographed: on the box cover: "GAME OF THE/ WATER/ MELON/ PATCH/ McLOUGHLIN BRO'S/ NEW YORK"
Gallery Label
A variation of Fish Pond in which players capture watermelons with a pole, Watermelon Patch reinforced derogatory stereotypes with images of blacks stealing and eating melons.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
