This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/26/2021
TOFT, Mary (1701–1763). Mary Tofts “The Pretend Rabbit Breeder” Portrait Engraving. Circa 1820. Hand–colored engraving sculpted by Maddocks after a portrait painted in 1727. Framed, 11 x 9 ½”. A London journal reported that Mary gave birth to a creature “resembling” a rabbit and was blamed on the theory of maternal impressions– a child resembling whatever the mother thought of at the time of conception. Toft confessed to the hoax and admitted that following her miscarriage, she had persuaded a friend to insert parts of a dead cat and the head of a rabbit into her womb while her cervix was still dilated.