Kandelaber, onderaan staat een vaas tussen vissenstaarten c. 1525 - 1594

This design for a candelabra, with a vase nestled between fishtails at the base, was made by Hans Sibmacher, around the year 1600, using the technique of engraving. Engraving is an intaglio process, meaning that the image is incised into a metal plate, and then ink is held within these lines. The plate would have been prepared with careful polishing, and then the design meticulously cut using a tool called a burin. The quality of the final print depends greatly on the control of the engraver's hand, and the sharpness of the burin. Prints like these were essential to early modern manufacturing. A silversmith, for example, could adapt such a design to their own purposes. They would certainly adjust the design to suit a patron's taste, and perhaps make variations that suited their own technical capacity. This print is a reminder that so much of art history is really the history of making.