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Desk Set with Telescope and Writing Utensils

first half of the 17th century

Not on view

This skillfully turned ivory telescope is not functional: while its lenses can be directed, they are mounted too imprecisely for successful magnification. From the time they were invented in the early seventeenth century, telescopes were among the most favored scientific objects in the princely Kunstkammer, as their ground lenses allowed observation of celestial bodies invisible to the naked eye. Likely never used, this piece is more marvel than instrument, an expression of the importance of the observational possibilities promised by the telescope.

Desk Set with Telescope and Writing Utensils, Ivory (turned), ebony., German — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Desk Set with Telescope and Writing Utensils

Date: first half of the 17th century

Culture: German

Medium: Ivory (turned), ebony.

Dimensions: 16 7/16 in. (41.7 cm)

Classification: Natural Substances-Ivory

Credit Line: Kunstkammer, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

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The Met's comprehensive collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century.