Vuurbok met Atlas 1669 - 1693

This etching, made by Jean Cotelle in the 17th century, depicts designs for fireplace ornaments. The primary subject is Atlas, forever condemned to hold up the celestial spheres, here employed as a decorative feature. Consider the material reality of these intended objects. They would have been made of bronze or stone, using casting or carving, processes requiring intense labor. Atlas himself is rendered with bulging muscles, a figure of toil. Below him, sphinxes flank a cartouche – more ornament, more weight, literally and figuratively pressing down on any open space. Additional designs fill the upper reaches of the composition, as if the artist was determined to fill every possible void. We might see this design as an expression of the period’s economic system, which was predicated on the exploitation of both human and natural resources. Ornament becomes a symbol of power, a visual demonstration of command over labor and the wider world. This image makes clear that even ostensibly “minor” arts are deeply imbricated within structures of social control.