As a boy, the Basle physician Felix Platter (1536-1614) once got in trouble for loitering at a market stall to admire some biscuit moulds. When recalling the episode in his memoirs, Platter described the carved wooden biscuit moulds as "works of art". The anecdote raises the question: if, around the middle of the sixteenth century, an educated person such as Platter could perceive biscuit moulds as "art", what else could be? This course seeks to formulate an answer. Focussing on the period 13...