Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Direct scan of object
Une Potiere de Terre (female potter)
Direct scan of object

Une Potiere de Terre (female potter)

DateCa. 1730
Engraver Martin Engelbrecht
After work by I. I. Stelzer
OriginEurope, Germany, Augsburg
MediumHand-colored etching and line engraving
DimensionsOverall: 14 × 8 3/4in. (35.6 × 22.2cm) Other (Plate to mark including title): 12 1/4 × 7 1/2in. (31.1 × 19.1cm) Other (Plate): 10 1/4 × 7 1/4in. (26 × 18.4cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1955-150,2B
DescriptionUpper right corner reads" "10"
Lower margin reads: "I.I. Stelzer fecit/ Une Potiére de terre./ Eine Haffnerin./1. Un baquet. 1 Ein Mulder. 2 un plat. 2. eine Schüßel. 3. un pot à trois pieds. 3. ein Drefußiger/ Topff. 4 un pot. 4. eien Toff. 5. un pot de chambre. 5 ein Nacht geschirr. 6. une cruche à Bierre/ 6. ein Bier Krug. 7 losanges à faire les fourneaux. .7. Ofen kachlen. 8. une cruche à l'eau. 8. ein Maker/ Krug./ 9. un pot à fleures. 9. ein Blumen Krug. 10. couverdee. 10 Dekel.11. pipes à fumer. 11. Dubackhsfieffe./ 12. representation des 4 Saisons de l'anée par 4 têtes.12. erdene Kopffe wlche die 4 JahrSeiten vorstellen./ 12. representation. / 13. un plat 13 ein fesser./ Cum pr. S.C. Maj. / Mart Engelbrecht excud. A.V."
Label TextMartin Engelbrecht’s mid-18th century publication on trades included both a male and female illustration of each trade or profession in creative ways. Though they represent the tools that tradesmen used and the products they produced, they were meant to entertain elite audiences rather than inform about the labor involved in these trades or professions. She carries the tools and wares associated with pottery on her person as follows: 1. (her skirt has a table ledge on which many of these things rest) un baquet (tub). 2. (skirt) un plat (dish). 3. (skirt) un pot a trois pieds (a pot with three legs). 4. un pot (a pot). 5. (on skirt) un pot de chambre (a chamber pot). 6. (on skirt) une cruche a la Bierre (a beer pitcher). 7. (on skirt) losanges a faire les fourneaux (moulds for the fire). 8. (in left hand) une cruche a l'eau (a pitcher for water). 9. (on head) un pot a fleures (flower pot). 10. (right shoulder) couvercle (lid). 11. (right hand) pipes a fumer (pipes for smoking). 12. (on skirt) representation des 4 Saisons de l'Anee par 4 tetes representations of the four seasons in four heads). 13. (right hand) un plat (dish).

This print is from a series of 189 engravings consisting prints featuring depictions of tradesmen in the format known as composite figures, which are human figures made up of objects. Sometimes various accoutrements or tools are cleverly incorporated into recognizable garments or even replace body parts. Each plate represents different trades by trades men and women dressed with associated tools and products. They do not represent actual tradespeople nor are they meant to suggest that women participated in these trades, though in some cases they may have.They were designed by Johann Jacob Stelzner (1706-1780), C.F. Horstman and M. Rosler. They were etched by Martin Engelbrecht ( 1684–1756). The series was published in a compilation known as, From Martin Engelbrecht, "L' Assemblage nouveau des manouvries habilles or Neu-eröffnete Sammlung der mit ihren eigenen Arbeiten und Werkzeugen eingekleideten Künstlern, Handwerkern und Professionen," (Augsburg, Germany, ca. 1730).