This image depicts the relationship between Russia and Transcaucasia as the “courtship” between a bride and groom.

The man on the right is holding a copy of the pro-Russian newspaper Golos kavkaza (The Voice of the Caucasus) which was published between 1906 and 1917. The man on the left is depicted in a bridal dress with a sash bearing the inscription “Transcaucasia.”

This caricature was accompanied by a short poem about Kote Tumanishvili, a Georgian public figure. The poem’s statement that Tumanishvili “flirts with the north” can be interpreted as both a criticism of Tumanishvili and a generalization about the political situation of the Caucasus vis-à-vis Russia.

Image: The National Parliamentary Library of Georgia