Siervaas en sierkan met fantasiewezen 1721 - 1756

This print was made by Jeremias Wachsmuth, and depicts a pitcher and ornamental vase with fantastic creatures. What we see here isn't the thing itself, but an image of it, made using engraving, a printmaking technique that involves cutting a design into a metal plate, inking it, and then pressing paper against it. The image is all about a highly developed sense of form, with the fluid shapes of the vessels contrasting with the crisply defined ornamentation. Notice how the artist has managed to create the illusion of three dimensions and a range of textures, through simple gradations of light and shade. This would have been incredibly important to Wachsmuth, given that such prints were used by craftspeople to guide the creation of actual objects in silver and other luxury materials. In the 18th century, prints like this played a vital role in circulating design ideas widely, even internationally. Wachsmuth himself was employed as a sculptor at the court in Berlin, and his printmaking activities were an extension of that role. For him, as for many artists of the time, there was no rigid distinction between the fine and applied arts.