A dishevelled woman is
carried home in a sedan chair after a night of revelry, her
elaborate shepherdess costume and floral headdress marking her
return from a masquerade ball. She hangs limp, either asleep or
drunk, her hand trailing from the chair as two grinning chairmen
bear her through the morning streets. On the right, a little black
chimney-sweep looks on with laughter, holding up a smiling mask. On
the left, another man also smiles. The tidy urban backdrop, possibly
Covent Garden, and the bright daylight clash with her bedraggled
state, heightening the sense of impropriety. Satirical in tone, this
print mocks upper-class indulgence, especially among women, casting
the excesses of decadent soirées as morally suspect and socially
exposed.
