Egyptian no. 8 

Owen Jones produced this plate of lithographic prints in the 19th century, compiling an assortment of patterns from ancient Egyptian sources. Lithography is a printmaking process using a flat stone or metal plate on which the design areas are worked using a greasy substance. Ink adheres to these areas and is repelled by the wet non-image areas. This technique enabled the relatively easy and cheap reproduction of designs, which fuelled the Victorian era's obsession with ornament. Jones was a key figure in this movement, advocating for the use of historical styles in contemporary design. The material qualities here are not just about the ink on paper. It is about the labor of copying, printing, and disseminating these patterns for a mass audience. Jones believed that good design could improve society, but his work also reflects the commercialization of culture in the industrial age. His is a kind of visual colonialism, abstracting and re-presenting non-Western motifs for a Western audience.