The Chances of Billiards: "A Scratch" All Around

In this comic billiard scene, a dog and cat fight underneath a billiard table, while white members of a family seek safety above floor level. At the center, an elderly gentleman climbs on top of the billiard table; at the right, a couple stands on two red-seated chairs; at left (in front of the cue rack), an elderly woman holding fire tongs stands on a red upholstered chair with its back shielding her. Meanwhile, a Black man (a servant) crouches on the rug to the left of the billiard table, and points a cue to poke at the animals in order to separate them. The scene takes place in a nicely decorated domestic interior. Three gold-framed landscape paintings hang on the wall at left; the largest hangs above a mantle lined with figurines, as a fire blazes in the fireplace below. A pair of elegantly-curtained windows of the far wall comprise the background; the windows flank a chest. A bird cage containing a parrot stands in front of the right window.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints (most drawn on the stones by other artists) in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.