Pottery Peddler 1738

Anne Claude Philippe, Comte de Caylus, made this print called "Pottery Peddler," using etching in eighteenth-century France. Caylus was an antiquarian, a collector, and an engraver during the height of the Rococo period, and this work seems to engage with the social position of art and artistry. The print depicts a young girl sitting on the ground, weighed down by a large basket full of pottery. The title, "De la belle Fayance," refers to fine earthenware, suggesting the wares she carries are precious. Yet her posture, dress, and downcast eyes suggest a life of poverty and hard labor. The artist perhaps intended to depict the suffering and inequalities that existed in French society at the time. To understand Caylus's work more fully, we might look at the economic conditions that shaped the production and consumption of art. Archival sources can tell us more about his place in the artistic and social hierarchies of his time. Ultimately, this print suggests how art could be a mirror reflecting both the beauty and the harsh realities of eighteenth-century France.