Crystal Skull and Jade Vase
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 19 13/16 × 13 3/4 in. (50.3 × 35 cm) Plate: 15 3/4 × 11 7/16 in. (40 × 29 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1917
Accession Number
17.6.28
Art Historical Context
Jules-Ferdinandemart’s 186 etching *Crystal Skull Jade Vase* presents striking still-life composition with remarkable precision. Created a print on paper roughly 20 by inches, the work highlights the translucent surfaces of the crystal skull and the smooth, carved forms of the jade vase. Etching, a technique that uses acid to bite lines into a metal plate, allowed Jacquemart to capture delicate variations in light and texture, making the objects appear almost tangible despite the two-dimensional format. Housed today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, this ...
About the Artist
Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart · 1837–1880
**Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart: Master Etcher and Watercolorist** Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart was born on September 7, 1837, in Paris to Albert Jacquemart, a prominent art collector, ceramics historian, and amateur artist, and Louise Émilie Labbé. The third of four children, he received his initial training in etching from his father, who had no formal master himself and emphasized self-taught preci...