As a painter and decorative artist,Jean Baptiste Pillement ornamented a broad range of objects including ceramics, textiles, and other household objects. He employed several printmakers to copy his designs that were then disseminated throughout Europe. The best of the printmakers, Anne Allen, colored the etched plate à la poupée. Instead of making a plate for each color, a single plate is selectively inked in different colors using stumps of rags, known as dolls (poupée in French), so that the complete design is printed at one time.