- Museum number
- 1897,1118.4
- Description
-
Compound microscope of Hooke type; vellum over wood body; top portion: wood acorn; biconvex lens, focal length 66mm; eyepiece in screw-in mount missing; upper middle portion: two vellum sleeves, sliding one within the other attached to internally threaded wooden ring; lower middle portion: threaded flange extension, fluted wood upper ring attached to lower vellum tube; bottom portion: vellum tube with green and gilt tooled cover attached to turned and fluted wooden portion; folding brass stand, top is a ball-holder; arm with brass ring projects from ball to receive body of microscope.
- Production date
- 17thC(late)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 221 - 265 millimetres (stand)
-
Diameter: 111 millimetres (overall diameter of microscope body)
-
Height: 433 millimetres (overall length of microscope body)
- Curator's comments
- Ward 1981
Top portion Length 118 mm, wooden 'acorn', with carved flutings, with lower flange, length 15 mm. Biconvex lens, slightly chipped, focal length 66 mm, with top surface 27 mm below top rim of acorn. Eyepiece in screw-in mount missing.
Upper middle portion Length 98 mm. Two vellum sleeves, sliding one within the other, the outer attached at the bottom to an internally threaded wooden ring, internal diameter 75 mm, external diameter 100 mm, now split in three pieces. The outer sleeve with a green and gilt tooled cover: on the inside is a list of names in Dutch with dates including the (presumably) year 80.
Lower middle portion Length 117 mm, with threaded flange extension, length 7 mm. Fluted wooden upper ring attached to lower vellum tube, length 97 mm.
Bottom portion Length 191 mm. Vellum tube, length 89 mm, with green and gilt tooled cover, attached to a turned and fluted wooden portion which terminates in a thread for screwing into the stand and a short, further threaded portion over which the objective mount, now missing, could be screwed.
The stand, of brass, has three feet which can be folded together; its overall height is then 265 mm. With the legs fully opened out the overall height is 221 mm. The top of the stand is a ball-holder, and a horizontal arm projects from the ball to a total distance of 87 mm from its centre. The outer end of the arm is a brass ring with an internal thread to receive the body of the microscope.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2019 15 May-9 Sep, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2017 28 Jun-08 Oct, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2017 1 Mar-31 May, National Museum of China, Beijing, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
- Condition
-
Latest: 1 (2003)
-
5 (Feb 1996)
- Acquisition date
- 1897
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1897,1118.4