Interieur van een gereedschapswinkel 1679 - 1681

This print of a tool shop interior was made by Gaspar Bouttats in the late 17th century, using etching. Look closely, and you’ll see that the matrix used to make the print was a metal plate, likely copper. The etched lines have a fineness that only this process could achieve. But the image is more than just a demonstration of technique. It captures a moment in the history of making. The shop is filled with implements made by hand: saws, hammers, shears, chisels and spades. These are the essential tools of pre-industrial life. Take note of the figures in the shop. Bouttats shows us that the shopkeeper and his assistants were as essential as the tools themselves. They represent a society dependent on skilled labor and local production, a world before mass manufacturing. This print reminds us that craft is not just about objects, but also about people and their relationship to the material world. By paying attention to the ways things are made, we gain a deeper understanding of the social fabric that holds us together.