Existing comment:
Microscope
ca. 1750
Optical elements by Claude-Siméon Passemant
As official instrument maker to Louis XV, Claude Siméon Passemant likely created this microscope for the king himself. The elegant C-scroll decoration on its mount, which elevates the tool to a work of art, affirms the high regard in which scientific inquiry was held in the eighteenth century. Microscopy was a favorite pastime among the aristocracy, and the French court was one of the few places where the tool remained in use for the observation of nature's minute details throughout the period. |