Push-pin

Gillray, James, 1756-1815 · April 17, 1797

Three people sit at a round table playing push-pin. The Duke of Queensberry (right) leans on the table, pushing the pin. In his right hand is a double lorgnette over which he leers at his vis-à-vis, a very corpulent woman in a flowered dress who stares through spectacles at the pins. A younger woman, spinsterish and demure, watches the game with down-dropped eyes. Both wear hats. The chairs are decorated with ormolu, and on the back of Queensberry's is his crest (without the coronet) - a heart between wings. The floor is carpeted (BM). / Peter Pindar's "little gamesome Piccadilly Duke" occupied in one of those very intellectual games, which were fashionable at the time. The lady with whom he is at play is said to have been a well-known priestess of Venus, usually designated by her customers as "Mother Windsor" (Wright/Evans).