Vaas met twee sfinxen en vrouwenhoofden tussen guirlandes 1746

This is Jacques François Joseph Saly's "Vase with two sphinxes and women's heads between garlands," an etching made sometime in the 18th century. The vase is topped by two sphinxes sitting opposite each other, their hands almost touching in the middle. The sphinx, with a woman’s head and a lion’s body, is often seen in art as a symbol of mystery and power. Below the sphinxes, three women's heads peer out from a garland wrapping around the vase. Saly, working in the period of the Enlightenment, was part of a movement that placed a high value on reason, harmony, and classical forms. The vase is a kind of fantasy object that blends the classical with the slightly erotic, and certainly the strange. Consider how the women’s heads emerge from the garlands, almost as though they’re a part of the vase itself. What does it mean to turn a woman into a decorative object? This vase makes us think about the many ways women have been represented – and often constrained – throughout art history.