Duchamp (1887-1968) etched this print for Du Cubisme after the same-titled oil painting he had made in 1911 for his brother, sculptor Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876-1918). His brother was married in 1911 and had asked his artist friends to make him small paintings as wedding gifts with which to decorate their newlywed kitchen.
According to Duchamp's later recollection, "I made this old-fashioned coffee mill for him. It shows the different facets of the coffee grinding operation and the handle on top is seen simultaneously in several positions as it revolves. You can see the ground coffee in a heap under the cogwheels of the central shaft, which turns in the directions of the arrow on top" (d'Harnoncourt/McShine, Marcel Duchamp, 1973, page 256).
