Papetterie, Pourissoir
Date1767
Engraver
Robert Bénard
1734 - 1777
After work by
Louis-Jacques Goussier
1722 - 1799
Publisher
Denis Diderot
1713-1784
Publisher
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
1717 - 1783
OriginEurope, France, Paris
MediumEtching with line engraving
DimensionsOverall: 15 1/2 × 10in. (39.4 × 25.4cm)
Other (Plate): 14 × 8 3/4in. (35.6 × 22.2cm)
Other (Plate): 14 × 8 3/4in. (35.6 × 22.2cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1966-219,4
DescriptionUpper right margin reads: "Pl. II." Lower margin reads: "Goussier del./ Benard fecit/ Papetterie, Pourissoir."Label TextA plate from Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers" on papermaking found in "Recueil de Planches, vol. V." The upper part of the plate shows the room and vats in which rags are disintegrated. When after about two months in moistening process they become yellow (that which is now ivory color in most 18th century paper) they are sent on to the stamping mill shown in the bottom half. Here the rags are pounded up and turned into mush.ProvenanceBefore 1966, Thure Krarup (Glen Falls, New York); 1966-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).
