Design

Object Type
This print by James Mynde combines two printmaking techniques - etching and engraving. Both involved creating a pattern of grooves to hold ink in a metal printing plate. The image on the printing plate was the reverse of the final image. The etched lines were made using acid, while the engraved lines were scored by means of a sharp tool called a burin. The grooves were then filled with ink and the image was transferred onto a blank sheet of paper.

Subject Depicted
This print depicts a chimney-piece, consisting of an overmantel above a mantelpiece. It would have been made of wood or stone, perhaps marble. The text that accompanies the print states, 'The upper work being larger and heavier, the chimney-piece itself is made stronger in proportion; and as the continued part is more rich, the lower half has also more ornament.'

The pediment on the very top of the chimney-piece is open and slightly rounded. It encloses a blank shield.

Trading
Isaac Ware's book, A Complete Body of Architecture, had 748 pages and 122 plates. It was intended as a practical manual and covered every aspect of architecture, including the price of materials.