Tuinvaas met twee monogrammen bekroond met saterkop 1690 - 1710

Gerrit Visscher’s delicate line engraving features an ornamental garden vase, its surface adorned with complex monograms and grotesque satyr heads. The structure of the print reveals a fascination with symmetry, with the vase itself acting as a central anchor, around which swirling patterns and detailed embellishments coalesce. The linear precision, rendered in monochrome, invites us to consider how the artwork plays with notions of surface and depth. The satyr head that crowns the composition, with its ambiguous expression, destabilizes the traditional understanding of beauty and the grotesque. The monograms, carefully inscribed, suggest a play of identity and perhaps status. It’s tempting to view Visscher’s ornamental print as a semiotic puzzle, where each element – from the shape of the vase to the curling tendrils of ornamentation – functions as a sign. The artist transforms a common object into a complex visual statement.