Tactus; Quinque Sensum descriptio

Object Type
This is a type of print called an etching. An etching is produced by biting lines in a metal plate with acid to hold ink which is then printed onto paper. This is a page from a set of five prints representing the Five Senses - Smell, Taste, Hearing, Touch and Sight. As here, the Five Senses are generally represented as female figures engaged in some activity relating to the sense they portray. They are accompanied by an appropriate animal and by cherubs playing with objects associated with the senses.

This print shows 'Tactus' (Touch). In this example the female figure has a bird perched on her hand pecking her finger and a tortoise under her right foot. The niche in which she sits is surrounded by thorns on which one of the cherubs has pricked his hand. Another cherub is rubbing a painful foot whilst a third feeds a snail. Two monkeys or apes, often used to portray touch in depictions of the Five Senses, are shown grooming themselves.

People
Francis Cleyn, who etched these prints, worked mainly for the Mortlake Tapestry Factory, where he was appointed chief designer in 1626. He probably later reused the central female figures in a set of tapestries at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire.

Ownership & Use
These prints served a dual function. Collectors bought them as prints to be collected in their own right, while craftsmen bought them as sources for the decoration of objects they were making.