Dactyliotheca, erven van Philip Daniël Lippert, after Philip Daniël Lippert, 1792
gypsum, h 70.5cm × w 82cm × d 49.5cm More details
The study of antique cameos and intaglios was highly popular in the eighteenth century. This led to the reproduction, in a kind of plaster, of some of the most famous collections of the time. The Dresden artist Lippert assembled a collection of 3149 casts in three book-shaped containers, which he produced for sale. He named it a dactyliotheca, from the Greek word for a repository of rings and gemstones. This example was acquired in 1792 by the Amsterdam Drawing Academy.