The study of antique cameos and intaglios was highly popular in the eighteenth century.
This led to the reproduction, in a kind of plaster, of some of the most famous collections of the time.
The Dresden artist Lippert assembled a collection of 3149 casts in three book-shaped containers.
He named it a dactyliotheca, from the Greek word for a repository of rings and gemstones.

Book covers: Jan Mol, Amsterdam, 1792
Cabinet: Jan Eldert Glade, Amsterdam, 1792