A mob stoning the coffee house in the rue Quinquenpoix in Paris where shares are traded during the share price boom of 1720. Etching, ca. 1720.

The following is based on the British Museum online catalogue. An outdoor stage, with a set consisting of a coffee house in rue Quinquempoix in Paris where worthless shares were traded. The coffee house is being attacked by a mob which has broken its windows with stones and is pulling down the wooden walls with bill-hooks; a woman empties a chamber pot from an upper window; a flag lettered "Het spul is uyt" ("The play is over") flies from near the roof

In the left foreground the mob attacks Philippe, duc d'Orléans, the Regent of France, identifiable by his cloak embroidered with fleur-de-lis, who has apparently been dragged from his coach. The Regent, with papers marked "Missippe" (Mississippi) at his feet and holding another stating that he repents of his actions, is being assailed from the left by two fishwives one of whom has laid down her baskets of fish and is attacking him with the yoke of her panier, and from the right by a man who pulls off his cloak, another who is raising a sledge-hammer and another who brandishes a flail

To the right, John Law, who has dropped papers maked "Zuyt" (for the South Sea Company), has already been stripped of his hat, wig, and other clothing, and his breeches are being pulled off while a woman belabours him with a broom; his stocking, embroidered dressing gown and waistcoat are held aloft

At the back of the crowd a model of Mercury waving a flag labelled, "Voor 't gemeen" (For the people) and bearing the arms of Haarlem, Amsterdam and Leiden is held aloft as men wave their hats. Rioters waving papers push and kick Bombario towards the edge of the stage; he clutches a bag of money and high denomination banknotes fall from his tray. At the left of the stage a man rushes forward scattering papers numbered "0"; at the right of the stage a coffee table is kicked over, a kettle, coffee pot, cup, saucers and pipes spill into the crowd below, and a woman raises her arms in a vain attempt intervene. To the left of the scene is a row of booths and beyond the Seine, the towers of Notre Dame and other buildings of Paris. In the clouds above are the lion of the Netherlands, a crowned dog and a crowned cock with snakes around their heads; birds fly down towards the earth holding papers numbered "0"

According to De Bruyn, loc. cit., the setting is Amsterdam rather than Paris

[Amsterdam] : [publisher not identified], [1720?]

1 print : etching ; platemark 32 x 31.6 cm

Quincampoix in duigen ... Philadelphus Lettering above: "Quincampoix in duigen" (Quincampoix in ruins). Below the image are engraved verses in Dutch in two columns, signed 'Philadelphus' (identified as Gysbert Tyssens (1693-1732)) : Law, die vry warm vry heet van kruin ... En dubbeld mis, wat aan wis.

'Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid', Amsterdam, 1720, is a collection of literary and pictorial satires relating to the Dutch speculation bubble of 1720, which occurred simultaneously with the South Sea bubble and the Mississippi bubble involving John Law. This print is one of the many in that collection: see A.H. Cole, op. cit.

Frederik Muller, De nederlandsche geschiedenis in platen. Beredeneerde beschrijving van nederlandsche historieplaten, zinneprenten en historische kaarten, Amsterdam 1863, part 2, no. 3549 (14)

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. 2, London 1954, no. 1653

Arthur H. Cole, The great mirror of folly (Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid). An economic-bibliographical study, Boston 1949, no. 14

Frans De Bruyn, 'Reading Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid: an emblem book of the folly of speculation in the bubble year 1720', Eighteenth-century life, 2000, 24: 1-42, p. 39, n. 31

Wellcome Collection 811819i