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© 2010 vistavision
Lawn Jockey
The first Lawn Jockey shown on the left was found outside a hairdressers in Ginza. His extended arm has been used to hold a sign for the salon. A long way from home the Lawn Jockey hails from America and was once a popular lawn ornament. Originally the figure was modelled on an African-American with exaggerated features. The controversial statue is now more often found with pink skin but old versions can still be found as seen in vistavisions photo shown at the bottom of the page
The story goes that at the time of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, a 12 year old African American Joque Graves was at camp, a groomsman for Washington. He wanted to make the crossing with the army; however, Washington, aware of the danger, ordered him to stay on the Pennsylvania shore, and shine a light, so upon return the company would know where to come to retrieve their horses. After the surprise attack on the Trenton barracks, Washington returned to find Joque had frozen to death, guarding the horses, the lantern still ablaze and frozen in his hand. moved by the boys devotion, Washington commissioned a statue, ‘The Faithful Groomsman’, to stand in honor of Graves at the General’s estate at Mount Vernon.
The Lawn Jockey can often be seen holding a lantern, horse whip and even a restaurant menu. For more on the history of the lawn Jockey read the Wikipedia article.
