Detail, Earth, Engraver unknown, published by Joseph Read, place unknown, Jan. 8, 1799, hand-colored stipple and line engraving, G1971-3323,1.

In this print, notice the thick rim and the relatively unadorned body of the clay flowerpots of varying sizes with which the subject is working. Colonial Williamsburg produces a flowerpot very much like these. Ours are produced for us by a potter in Georgia, using native clay.

Prints such as this give curators clues about the material culture of the periods they investigate. Details such as the lady's hat and the kerchief about her neck allow scholars to date similar objects, or other prints lacking a specific date.

This scene shows another example of a flowerpot, larger than that above, and demonstrates the way gardens were conceived and executed, as seen in the detail of a garden in the background of this print. The garden scene confirms what we know of 17th-century and 18th-century gardens: that they were usually circumscribed by a fence or boundary, and that within that perimeter they were highly organized and geometrically precise, and consisted of beds or parterres describing an elaborate pattern in which the walks, of contrasting materials, played an important part.

Detail, Spring, Engraver unknown, after a painting by David Teniers, London, 1751, hand-colored line engraving, 1961-170,1.