
"Musei Wormiani Historia", the
frontispiece from the
Museum Wormianum depicting
Ole Worm's cabinet of curiosities.
A
cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in
Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorial boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as
Cabinet of Wonder, and in German
Kunstkammer ("art-room") or
Wunderkammer ("wonder-room"). Modern terminology would categorize the objects included as belonging to
natural history (sometimes faked),
geology,
ethnography,
archaeology, religious or historical
relics, works of art (including
cabinet paintings) and antiquities. "The Kunstkammer was regarded as a
microcosm or theater of the world, and a memory theater. The Kunstkammer conveyed symbolically the patron's control of the world through its indoor, microscopic reproduction."
[1] Of
Charles I of England's collection, Peter Thomas has succinctly stated, "The
Kunstkabinett itself was a form of propaganda".
[2] Besides the most famous and best documented cabinets of rulers and aristocrats, members of the merchant class and early practitioners of
science in
Europe also formed collections that were precursors to
museums.
1 comment:
I think Tish has more than a wonder-room.....she has a wonder-house! Charles I, meet Tish!!!!
Post a Comment