Kandelaar met drie kaarsen 1772 - 1779

This print of a candlestick with three candles was made by Jean Pelletier in eighteenth-century France. It’s an etching, a printmaking process where acid is used to create lines in a metal plate, which is then inked and printed onto paper. What I find particularly interesting is the way Pelletier has used this reproductive medium to depict an object that would originally have been fabricated through other means. Think about the lost wax casting, chasing, and polishing that would have gone into making the candlestick itself. The print flattens all of that labor into a relatively quick, repeatable image. In effect, Pelletier is using the material qualities of ink on paper to democratize an object that would originally have been available only to the wealthy. It’s a fascinating example of how printmaking could challenge traditional hierarchies of taste and consumption. It reminds us to consider the wider social context of objects and their production.