Today we associate technology with machines; but in societies of old that honoured the work of hand and tool , technology was closely allied to manual skills . Series production of a model was often practised during the Renaissance; and later , in the 17th century , multiples  were sometimes used in workshops as a matter of expedience. A classical exmaple exists , by two disciples of the sculptor Giambologna, Pietro Tacca and Antonio Susini, who used to produce monunents: horses , bodies, heads, that could be assembled without having to create original work each time.