The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
optical instrument [ARK00073]
Attached People: Collector (major) - Bargrave, John (1610-1680)Location(s): Past Location at - Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archives (Library and/or Archive) -> Canterbury Cathedral (Institution)
Annotation:[Canterbury Catalog: Portable darkroom. Glass at narrow end of turned wood instrument casts shadows and shapes onto piece of paper secured to the other, greater end; one can then paint or draw over the resulting images. Bargrave writes that he saw this particular instrument in a shop window in Vienna and was so fascinated that he soon went in a bought it after being shown how to use it by the shop keeper. While the object is obviously missing from the collection at present, evidence from Bargrave's catalogue tells us that it did come back to Canterbury after his journey: "With this instrument you may see the jackdaws fly about Bell Harry steeple".] (missing) (approx early - mid 17th cent)