{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O127404"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127404/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3225/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3225/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM3225","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O127404/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O127404","accessionNumber":"E.1215D-1886","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Flagellation of a Female Samboe Slave","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"The Dutch captured the British colony of Suriname during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1667). Under the West India Company it was developed as a plantation slave society and became a primary destination for the Dutch slave trade. The brutal regime caused high mortality; despite the import of 300,000 slaves between 1668 and 1823, the population never grew beyond 50,000. ‘Maroonage’ became the major form of resistance. Fugitive slaves, or ‘maroons’, escaped inland to form permanent communities from where they waged a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the Dutch.\r\n\r\nIn 1774 the Scottish-Dutch soldier John Gabriel Stedman witnessed the brutal oppression of slaves during a campaign against the maroons, which he described in his <i>Narrative of a Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam</i>. The book, which included illustrations by William Blake, was adopted by those who advocated the abolition of the slave trade, though Stedman was thought to support reform rather than abolition.\r\n\r\nThis sexualised and sadistic image of a female slave being whipped became a key element in the visual vocabulary of British abolitionism. Blake’s bold graphic design, in which the slave is an isolated figure in the foreground, framed by the tree to which her hands are tied, led to the illustration being frequently reproduced in anti-slavery tracts.","physicalDescription":"Print depicts a black enslaved African woman tied by her hands to the branch of a tree. She is naked apart from a tattered loincloth. In the background two white men and two naked black men with whips, probably about to whip the woman upon orders of the white men.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Blake, William","id":"A3132"},"association":{"text":"printmaker","id":"AAT25164"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"etching (printing process)","id":"AAT53241"},{"text":"engraving (printing process)","id":"AAT53225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Etching and engraving on paper","categories":[{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Slavery & Abolitionism","id":"THES49008"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Caribbean","id":"THES286921"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BM3225"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF (VA)","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"TOPIC","shelf":"4","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"Yes-racial-stereotyping","note":"Terms 'negro' and 'sambo'"}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1796","earliest":"1796-01-01","latest":"1796-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.1215A-1886","id":"O127411"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215B-1886","id":"O127408"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215C-1886","id":"O127406"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215E-1886","id":"O127399"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215F-1886","id":"O127397"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215G-1886","id":"O127394"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215H-1886","id":"O127392"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215I-1886","id":"O127391"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215J-1886","id":"O127389"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215K-1886","id":"O127387"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"19.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Bottom right:\r\nBlake Sculpt.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"NB: The terms \"negro\" and \"sambo\" were used historically to describe people of black African heritage but, since the mid 20th century, have fallen from usage and are now considered offensive. The terms are repeated here in their original historical context.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Flagellation of a Female Samboe Slave', illustration to the publication <i>Narrative of Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam</i> by Gabriel Stedman, etching and engraving by William Blake, London, 1796","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wood, Marcus. Blind Memory: Visual representations of slavery in England and America, 1780-1865. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. pp.234-239, p.237 (ill)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"slave","id":"AAT17491"},{"text":"whip","id":"AAT255555"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.1215D-1886"],"accessionNumberNum":"1215","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1886,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-06","recordCreationDate":"2006-08-24","availableToBook":false}}