• Title
  [Photograph of a 19th century French cabinet of natural history, ca. 1880] / by unknown
• Call number
  SSV/155
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  ca. 1880
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Photographs
• Reference code
  9623512
• Physical Description
  1 photograph - albumen - 17.4 x 22.8 cm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Cabinets of natural history, known as a 'cabinet of curiosities' or 'wunderkammer', were encyclopaedic collections of stuffed animals, birds, fish and insects. The earliest pictorial record of a natural history cabinet is the engraving in Ferrante Imperato's 'Dell'Historia Naturale', Naples 1599. The term 'cabinet' originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture. These cabinets became increasingly popular during the 18th and 19th centuries when extensive overseas exploration emerged as a significant factor in European culture.
  
  Reference:
  Library correspondence file
• Scope and Content
  One albumen photographic print of a section of a French cabinet of scientific and natural curiosities. The doors of the cabinet are open and the displays of animals, birds and some scientific instruments are clearly visible. A wallaby or small kangaroo is prominent and a platypus is visible on one of the upper shelves. Other stuffed animals on display include small and big cats, bats, a beaver, a badger, a squirrel, an alligator, and a large variety of birds including a penguin. The location of the collection and the photographer is unknown.
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Created before 1955
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Description source
  
  Title devised by cataloguer. Approximate date supplied by vendor.
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Inscribed in pencil on verso: Cabinet de physique (côté gauche [gauche crossed out] droit au fond). This inscription indicates that the image is of the right wall of the room.
• Conservation note
  
  A small tear at the upper left edge of the photograph has been repaired with conservation tape.
• Subject
  Cabinets of curiosities
  Taxidermy.
  Natural history--Pictorial works.
  Natural history--Catalogs and collections--France.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE20034796

View Media Files

1.

Show more