Collection de Vases 1770

Pierre Elisabeth de Fontanieu created this print, *Collection de Vases*, using engraving, a process where lines are incised into a metal plate, which is then inked and pressed onto paper. The image is not of a singular vase, but a composite of decorative features, echoing designs from classical antiquity. The visual texture achieved through engraving – the fine, precise lines – gives the vase a sense of depth and almost palpable form. But this wasn't simply an aesthetic exercise. Prints like this served as a pattern book, a kind of menu of design elements that could be adapted for use in other media, like ceramics, plaster, or even metalwork. This highlights how design in the 18th century operated within a network of skilled labor, where craftsmen translated ideas across different materials. It also challenges our modern idea of the "original" artwork, since this print was explicitly meant to be copied, varied, and put into circulation within a burgeoning consumer culture.