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CABINETS of CURIOSITY Rwunderkammers) CO -'''"7" _ ,~'~~" ' .__... _. - '''" ^^ . ....i . -- o cö O ü ÖO- Fold-out engraving of Ferrante Imperato's CABINETS OF CURIOSITY Dell'Historia Naturale, Naples 1599. filled with curios, they became rWUNDERKAMMERS) known as cabinets of curiosity. In German, these are known as By Melody Amsel-Arieli wunderkammers, wonder-rooms or kunstkammers, art-rooms. 'ho among us has not slipped a whorled shell, an aufumn Creating cabinets of curiosity leaf, or a shiny pebble info her pockef? We have became increasingly popular as collecfed fhe rare, fhe beaufiful, and the wondrous since printed engravings, which illus- fime immemorial. trated them, and catalogs, which w listed their contents, were circu- Beginning in the 15th century, European inquisitive minds, in- lated. A catalog that first appeared Europeans, aided by strides in cluding physicians, aristocrats, and in 1593, "Chiefest Rarities in the cartography, astronomy, and ship royalty, assembled collections of Publick Theater and Anatomie-Hall building, explored and mapped dis- these natural and unnatural speci- of the University of Leyden," reveals tant African, Asian, and American mens, religious relics, and objets the eclectic nature of a cabinet's shores. In their travels, they en- d'art for their personal pleasure, contents. Conceived as a educating countered astonishing varieties to reflect their wisdom, power, endeavor, its entranceway featured, of flora, fauna, art, culture, and and prestige. They arranged them along with other astounding ex- customs. Along with exciting ac- subjectively organized in cabinets, hibits, a pair of "Polonian" boots, counts of their adventures, they a term that originally described the "bristly Skin of a Brazilian also brought home some of their chambers rather than pieces of Beast," the snout of an unknown credible and incredible discoveries. furniture. Since these cabinets were fish, a trumpet made of birch trees 40 History Magazine Augusf/September 2012 Iiithi Prifft V-/ arrasfcUrMfk,' I 'Tphe Sceleton of a Newborn childe. • X 1 The Sceleton of a Moufe^ ' ' ' 9 Thfc Sceleton of a Mole. 4 All the veines of a man's Liver. •f'Á'FljiágHzn.fbjFraiu.Sttiirmaat. ii An Abortus embalm'd. •' : • 7 An Egg of a Stork, an ag^cat large Egj 8 A piece of Wax out of (jinnemant. htbi Frtfe D ' Â " ^gyptiaa Urn, in which is an Abortis X\ abovea Iooo. Yearej old. :' 1 A Viper or Flying Adder. " J AQ Egypiian F lie. , 4 The Cheek-Bone of a Mumie. f A Sea-Spider, from Nra Tortt, D. HtrmMMt Blctm. ' ' tf Capriícü.<i Rhondetetii. 7 The Veines of a Man's Liver. 8 An Egyptian Night-Owl. J) A Little Box, wherein is Tome bloud of a Crocodile. : 10 A Piece of Bread made of Famil. 11 A mallet, or hammer that the Sava¡ei iti Nrw Tfrkc kill with, D. Htrm. Blam. LEFT; Page from " Chiefest Rarities in the Pubiick Theater and Anatomie-Hall of fhe Universify of Leyden," published 1727, Engiand. RIGHT: Oie Worm's cabinet of curiosities, from Museum Wormianum, 1655. from Muscovy, and two 300-pound Europe, the Levant, the Caribbean, knowledge, each object held equal East Indian oyster shells. Its central and the East Indies for botanical importance. Since the Ark was open "Pubiick Theatre" was ringed by specimens, amassed natural and to the public for a small entrance "Two Blue coat souldiers in their cultural oddities as well. He fee, common folk, like the aristoc- Skins", as well as skeletons of man arranged his acquisitions in one racy, could also behold wondrous and beast, some adorned with ban- of the earliest English cabinets of rarities. ners encouraging humility before curiosity, which, for its size and As Renaissance intellectual, artis- such glories of Creation. Adjoining scope, he called an "Ark." tic, and scientific horizons contin- wings, chambers, and elaborate Georg Christoph Stim, who vis- ued to expand, many collectors wooden cupboards, featuring many ited the Ark in 1638, noted, along added innovative artwork, optical drawers and compartments, dis- with a garden of exotic plants, "all and astronomical instruments, played assortments similar only by kinds of bright colored birds from celestial globes, experimental de- their remarkable diversity. "A Roman India, a number of things changed vices, and medical manuscripts to Lamp which burnes alwayes under into stone ...a piece of human flesh their curiosity collections. Ground," for example, lay beside "a on a bone, gourds, olives, a piece of Ole Worm, a Danish physician Lizard's Skin from Brazile, a thun- wood, an ape's head, a cheese, etc; and student of antiquities, for ex- der-bolt, a Gold-Ring from China," all kinds of shells, the hand of a ample, alongside preserved animals, and "a Stone of Considerable big- mermaid, the hand of a mummy, a exotic plants, ancient sculptures, nesse, taken out of a maid's kidneys." very natural wax hand under glass, and fossils, displayed clockwork Beyond descriptions like these, no all kinds of precious stones, coins, automata. Athanasius Kircher, a further information was given. a picture wrought in feathers, a German Jesuit scholar, included One of the earliest engravings small piece of wood from the cross musical, magnetic, and perpetual- of a cabinet of curiosity, which was of Christ^' along with many other motion machines in his vast assembled by Neapolitan apothe- worldly wonders. John Tradescant collection of curios and sculptures. cary Ferrante Imperato, dates to the Younger added Native American Manfredo Settala of Milan, in addi- 1599. In it, books line one wall, items like wampam belts and a cer- tion to natural and ethnographic opposite stuffed birds guarding emonial cloak belonging to Chief oddities, included several of his own cupboards of specimen jars and Powhatan, father of Pocahontas. mechanical and optical inventions. pigeon-holed cabinets displaying Father and son, to impose some Because 17th century collectors marbles and minerals. Its vaulted sort of order, separated naturalia described, organized, and displayed ceiling, packed with shells, pre- from artificialia, then, displayed their acquisitions subjectively, each served sea creatures, stuffed mam- them in sub-categories like animals, cabinet of curiosity differed subtly mals, is crowned by a monstrous, plants, minerals, religious relics, from the next. All these kaleido- suspended stuffed crocodile. and portraits of royalty. Yet, since scopes of knowledge, by mixing In the early 1600s, royal gardener they considered all forms, factual art with artifice and science with John Tradescant the Elder, scouring or mythical, part of Man's sum of superstition, reflected the rich August/September 2012 History iVIagazine 4I diversity of the Renaissance. Despite meticulously compared, identified, Museum for Science and Medicine —O their scope, however, they were not and classified most of his natural at Leiden, Netherlands developed •— museums organized as we know specimens by number, name, de- from the Publick Theater and O them today. scription, and locality. After his Anatomie-Hall of the University of d Toward the end of the 17th cen- death, Sloane's entire collection, Leyden. It even features a recon- -^ tury, as the pursuit to understand more than 71,000 objects, formed struction of the University's 17th ü the natural world grew, the quest for the foundation of the British Mu- century, round, tiered anatomy hall. natural specimens replaced the seum. In 1881, his natural history The Kunstkamera Museum, which quest for rarities and curiosities per collection became part of Britain's is located in St Petersburg, Russia, se. Sir Hans Sloane, physician to Natural History Museum. developed from Peter the Great's King George II, not only collected Individual curiosities have rarely cabinet of curiosities. In addition coins, seals, cameos, prints and found their way into modern collec- to books, fish, reptiles, insects, an drawings, antiquities, ethnological tions. Yet, like the British Museum, extensive mineral collection, and artifacts, and oddities, he also other world class history, ethnology, scientific instruments, this monarch strove, through personal effort art, anthropology, science, medical, collected malformed human and and the acquisition of existing and archeology museums have also animal fetuses, reputedly to ease his collections, to gather examples of evolved from cabinets of curiosity. countrymen's superstitious fear of all the works of nature. He then Museum Boerhaave, the National monsters. The Ashmolean Museum (today the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology) is another institution that developed from a cabinet of wonder. Elias Ashmole, decades after inheriting the Tradescant Ark, donated its contents, along with other acquired collections, to the University of Oxford, which estab- lished a museum in his name. Over the years, however, many Tradescant zoological specimens, including the last (stuffed) dodo ever seen in Europe, deteriorated beyond recognition. Yet its more stable curiosities, including a model of a 17th century merchant ship carved from solid oak, the earliest known Russian wooden bead count- ing frame, a Scandinavian boxwood perpetual almanac carved with runic symbols, and a 12th century German copper-alloy lantern set with crystals, continue to delight visitors today. ^'~ Melody Amsel-Arieli is an American- Israeli freelance writer whose articles have appeared in genealogical and historical magazines across the UK, US, and Canada, She is the author of Between Galicia and Hungary: The Jews of Stropkov (Avotaynu 2002) and her forthcom- ing book, Jewish Lives: 1750-1950 (Pen & Sword coming 2013), Visit her Illustration from the book, Wondertooneel der Nature - a Cabinet of Curiosities or website at http://amselbird,com. Wunderi<ammern in iHoiiand. 42 History Magazine August/September 2012 Copyright of History Magazine is the property of Moorshead Magazines Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use..
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