File:Macassar-Oil.jpg

Thomas Rowlandson
Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads.
(London, T. Tegg c. 1810). Etching. Original hand-colouring. 350x250mm.

Medical caricature, with hand-colouring. A scene in a quack barber surgeon’s shop. A grotesquely ugly, old barber, bends over his equally ugly, pot bellied ‘cit’ client, pouring Macassar oil over his patient’s bald head. On the right the client’s fat, ugly old wife, stares at herself in the mirror in astonishment, as her unnaturally thick, black hair rises vertically from her scalp. Above the mirror is a notice – Wonderful Discovery, Carotty or Grey Whiskers changed to Black, Brown or Blue. On the floor is a cap with donkey’s ears labelled Fools Cap, bottles and jars line the shelves amd on the wall is pinned a large label inscribed – Macassar Oil for the growth of Hair is the finest invention ever known for encreasing hair on bald Places. Its virtues are pre-eminent for improving and beautifying the Hair of Ladies and Gentlemen. This invaluable Oil recommended on the basis of truth and experience is sold at One Guinea pr Bottle by all the Perfumers and Medicine Vendors in the Kingdom.