Interpretive analysis of Piranesi’s six-plate Ichnographia using the Ptolemaic strategy of frames within frames. The graphic work, reformulated as a corporeal object, relinquishes its traditional frames of reference, rendering the parts as well as the whole susceptible to “objective” interpretation. The constructed work – a châssis in the fullest sense of the word – resonates readily with other works (aircraft, bicycles, Duchamps) while the articulation of its parts reveals a hitherto un-imagined internal dialogue.