Negen rechthoekige gesneden stenen en vier ovale stenen 1839 - 1863

Jan Dam Steuerwald created this print of nine rectangular and four oval cut stones. Steuerwald was working in the Netherlands in the first half of the 19th century, a period in which the after-effects of the Enlightenment led to both new archaeological discoveries, and a fascination with the imagery of antiquity. Arranged on this page, the stones suggest a kind of typology, an effort to collect and classify different kinds of ancient figurative scenes. We see processions and ritual dances depicted in relief, offering tantalizing evidence of the practices of lost civilizations. It is worth remembering that museums and other cultural institutions were only just beginning to be established at this time. The logic of the museum is apparent here; the desire to survey human history through the collection and arrangement of objects. To understand this image better, we might consult not only art historical sources, but also histories of archaeology, of museology, and of Dutch intellectual life in the 1800s.