Greek no. 7. Ornaments from Greek and Etruscan vases 

Owen Jones made this lithograph of Greek and Etruscan vase ornaments sometime in the 19th century. Here we see rows of repeating patterns, rendered in a limited palette of black, red, and white or ochre. Now, lithography is a fascinating process, where an image is drawn on a stone or metal plate with a greasy substance, then printed using oil-based inks. Jones would have been deeply involved in every stage, from selecting the designs, to transferring these onto lithographic plates. The inherent qualities of lithography allowed for the relatively efficient reproduction of highly detailed ornament. The mass production of prints like this one speaks to 19th-century industrialization, a moment of great ambition to make classical design available for all, but also of increased commodification. Owen Jones’s role was to make the antique world available to a burgeoning industrial culture. So, the next time you see something like this, think about all that is embodied in it: the skill of the draftsman, the labor involved in producing the print, and the social context of mass production and a growing middle class. It’s a rich combination, well beyond conventional definitions of “fine art”.