The new range of goods which flooded shops and lives during the eighteenth century required inspiration, and one person serving this was Robert Sayer. Sayer produced sets of prints, usually in sets of six, over the 1750s and 1760s which served crafts such as enamelling, wallpaper making and fabric printing, and many surviving eighteenth-century goods contain imagery directly taken from these prints.
Some of these prints are considered to have been produced by Charles Fenn in Birmingham, but many appeared on Birmingham-made products in the eighteenth century, especially enamel boxes and other adornments. These include a squirrel bonbonnière, and similar images on several enamelled objects with swan designs.
The set of six prints included here was called A Book of Birds & Squirrels &c. The animal engravings were taken from original prints by Francis Barlow (c. 1626-1704) who was popular in the eighteenth century due to the natural poses of his animal prints.
