1746
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Suite of Vases: Plate 30 is a 1746 by Jacques François Saly, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This etching shows a fancy vase covered in wild creatures. The vase looks old-fashioned, but its carvings are full of made-up animals—lions with extra tails, birds with fish fins. Saly trained as a sculptor, so the details feel almost three-dimensional. These weren’t real vases. They were designs for artists and craftsmen to copy. The French Academy in Rome liked this kind of thing during the 1700s. Next time you visit, look up Jacques François Saly at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Designing ornamental vases or urns was particularly popular during the mid-18th century since the only limit to the possibilities was the imagination of the artist. Saly, a sculptor by training, was a student at the French Academy in Rome from 1740 to 1746, at which time he published a set of 30 etchings. Saly began with basic antique vase forms but deviated from classical ornament to use a rich variety of fantastic creatures for embellishment.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jacques François Joseph Saly, also known as Jacques Saly (20 June 1717 – 4 May 1776), French-born sculptor who worked in France, Italy and Malta.
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