Cabinet Of Curiosities | Can’t Sleep? Learn About Oddities

Long before modern museums, wealthy collectors filled rooms and cabinets with unusual objects gathered from around the world. This episode explores the history of cabinets of curiosities, the rare and sometimes baffling items they contained, and how these collections helped shape the way people studied nature, science, art, and the unknown. Along the way, you’ll hear about exotic specimens, mechanical marvels, mythical creatures, and the collectors whose fascination with wonder turned private collections into the foundations of public museums.

It’s steady and consistent, with no whispering and no sudden changes, just enough to give your mind something to follow as you wind down. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, Where I help you drift off one fact at a time. I'm your host Benjamin Boster. And today's episode is about the Cabinet of Curiosities. Cabinets of curiosities were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, In Renaissance Europe, Yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, The classic cabinets of curiosities emerged in the 16th century. The term cabinet originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture. 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. In addition to the most famous and best documented cabinets of rulers and aristocrats, Members of the merchant class and early practitioners of science in Europe formed collections that were precursors to museums. Cabinets of curiosities serve not only as collections to reflect the particular interests of the curators, But also as social devices to establish and uphold rank in society. There are said to be two main types of cabinets. As R. J. W. Evans notes, There could be the princely cabinet, Serving a largely representational function, And dominated by aesthetic concerns and a marked predilection for the exotic. Or the less grandiose, The more modest collection of the humanist, Scholar, Or virtuoso, Which served more practical and scientific purposes. Evans goes on to explain that no clear distinction existed between the two categories, Although collecting was marked by curiosity, Shading and incredulity, And by some sort of universal underlying design. In addition to cabinets of curiosity serving as an establisher of socio-economic status for its curator, These cabinets served as entertainment, As particularly illustrated by the proceedings of the Royal Society. Whose early meetings were often a sort of open floor to any fellow to exhibit the findings his curiosities led him to. However purely educational or investigative these exhibitions may sound, The fellows in this period supported the idea of learned entertainment, Or the alignment of learning with entertainment. This was not unusual, As the Royal Society had an earlier history of a love of the Marvelous. This love was often exploited by 18th century natural philosophers to secure the attention of their audience during their exhibitions. The earliest pictorial record of a natural history cabinet is the engraving in Fernand Imperato's Dell'Istoria Naturale, Naples, 1599. It serves to authenticate its author's credibility as a source of natural history information, By showing his open bookcases, In which many volumes are stored lying down and stacked, In the medieval fashion, Or with their spines upward, To protect the pages from dust. Some of the volumes doubtless represent his herbarium. Every surface of the vaulted ceiling is occupied with preserved fishes, Stuffed mammals, And curious shells, With the stuffed crocodiles suspended in the center. Examples of the corals stand on the bookcases. At the left, The room is fitted out like a studiolio, With a range of built-in cabinets, Whose fronts can be unlocked and let down to reveal intricately fitted nests of pigeonholes forming architectural units, Filled with small mineral specimens. Above them, Stuffed birds stand against panels inlaid with square polished stone samples, Doubtless marbles and jaspers or fitted with pigeonhole compartments or specimens. Below them a range of cupboards contain specimen boxes and covered jars. In 1587, Gabriel Kaldemarkt advised Christian I of Saxony that three types of items were indispensable in forming a kunstkammer, Or art collection. Firstly, Sculptures and paintings. Secondly, Curious items from home or abroad. And thirdly, Antlers, Horns, Claws, Feathers, And other things belonging to strange and curious animals. When Albrecht Dürer visited the Netherlands in 1521, Apart from artwork, He sent back to Nuremberg various animal horns, A piece of coral, Some large fish fins, And a wooden weapon from the East Indies. The highly characteristic range of interests represented in Franz II Francken's painting of 1636 shows paintings on the wall that range from landscapes, Including a moonlit scene, A genre in itself, To a portrait and a religious picture, Intermixed with the preserved tropical marine fish, And a string of carved beads, Most likely amber. Which is both precious and a natural curiosity. Sculptures, Both classical and secular on the one hand, And modern religious, Are represented, While on the table are arranged among the exotic shells, Including some tropical ones and a shark's tooth, Portrait miniatures, Gemstones mounted with pearls in a curious caterfoil box, A set of sepia chiaroscuro woodcuts or drawings, And a small still-life painting leaning against a flower piece, Coins and medals, Presumably Greek and Roman, And Roman terracotta oil lamps, A Chinese-style brass lock. Curious flasks, And a blue and white Ming porcelain bowl. The Kunstkammer of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Ruled 1576-1612, Housed in the Hradschine at Prague, Was unrivaled north of the Alps. It provided solace and retreat for contemplation. That also served to demonstrate his imperial magnificence and power in the symbolic arrangement of their display. Ceremoniously presented to visiting diplomats and magnates. Rudolf's uncle, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, Also had a collection organized by his treasurer, Leopold Heiberger, Which put special emphasis on paintings of people with interesting deformalities, Which remains largely intact as the chamber of art and curiosities at Umbres Castle in Austria. The Kunstkammer was regarded as a microcosm or theater of the world, And a memory theater. The Kunstkammer conveys symbolically the patron's control of the world through its indoor microscopic reproduction. Of Charles I of England's collection, Peter Thomas states succinctly, The Kunstkabinett itself was a form of propaganda. Two of the most famously described 17th century cabinets were those of Olaverm, Known as Olaus Vermius, And Athanasius Kircher. These 17th century cabinets were filled with preserved animals, Horns, Tusks, Skeletons, Minerals, As well as other interesting man-made objects. Sculptures wondrously old, Wondrously fine, Or wondrously small. Clockwork automata. Ethnographic specimens from exotic locations. Often they would contain a mix of fact and fiction, Including apparently mythical creatures. Wurm's collection contained, For example, What he thought was a Scythian lamb, A woolly fern, Thought to be a plant-sheep fabulous creature. However, He was also responsible for identifying the narwhal's tusk as coming from a whale rather than a unicorn, As most owners of these believed. The specimens displayed were often collected during exploring expeditions and trading voyages. Cabinets of curiosities would often serve scientific advancement when images of their contents were published. The Catalogue of Worms Collection, Published as the Museum Vermianum, 1655, Used the collection of artifacts as a starting point for Worms' speculations on philosophy, Science, Natural history, And more. Cabinets of curiosities were limited to those who could afford to create and maintain them. Many monarchs, In particular, Developed large collections. A rather underused example, Stronger in art than other areas, Was the Studiolo of Francesco I, The first Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany. Frederick III of Denmark, Who added Worm's Collection to his own after Worm's death, Was another such monarch. A third example is the Kunskamera founded by Peter the Great in St. Petersburg in 1714. Many items were bought in Amsterdam from Albert Sabah and Frederik Roysk. The fabulous Habsburg imperial collection included important Aztec artifacts, Including the feather headdress or crown of Montezuma, Now in the Museum of Ethnology Vienna. Similar collections on a smaller scale were the complex Kunst der Schränke, Produced in the early 17th century by the Augsburg merchant, Diplomat, And collector Philipp Heinhofer. These were cabinets in the sense of pieces of furniture, Made from all imaginable exotic and expensive materials, And filled with contents and ornamental details intended to reflect the entire cosmos on a miniature scale. The best preserved example is the one given by the city of Augsburg to King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1632, Which is kept in the Museum Gastavianum in Uppsala. The Curio cabinet is a modern single piece of furniture as a version of the grander historical examples. The juxtaposition of such disparate objects, According to Horst-Ritterkamp's analysis, Encouraged comparisons, Finding analogies and parallels, And favored the cultural change from a worldview as static to a dynamic view of endlessly transforming natural history, And a historical perspective that led in the 17th century to the germs of a scientific view of reality. In 17th century parlance, Both French and English, A cabinet came to signify a collection of works of art, Which might still also include an assembly of objects of virtue or curiosities, Such as a virtuoso would find intellectually stimulating. In 1714, Michael Bernhard Valentini published an early museological work, Museum Museorum, An account of the cabinets known to him with catalogues of their contents. In the second half of the 18th century, Belshazzar Haqqad operated in Ljubljana, Then the capital of Cardignola, A natural history cabinet that was appreciated throughout Europe and was visited by the highest nobility, Including the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, The Russian Grand Duke Paul and Pope Pius VI, As well as by famous naturalists, Such as Francesco Grizzolini and Franz Benedict Herrmann. It included a number of minerals, Including specimens of mercury from the Adria mine, A herbarium vivum with over 4, 000 specimens of carniolan, And foreign plants. A small number of animal specimens, A natural history and medical library, And an anatomical theater. A laid example of the juxtaposition of natural materials with richly worked artifice is provided by the Green Vaults, Formed by Augustus the Strong in Dresden, To display his Chamber of Wonders. The Enlightenment Gallery in the British Museum, Installed in the former King's Library room in 2003 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the museum, Aims to recreate the abundance and diversity that still characterized museums in the mid-18th century, Mixing shells, Rock samples, And botanical specimens with a great variety of artwork and other man-made art. Objects from all over the world. Some strands of the early universal collections, The bizarre of freakish biological specimens, Whether genuine or fake, And the more exotic historical objects, Could find a home in commercial freak shows and sideshows. In 1671, When visiting Thomas Brown, The courtier John Evelyn remarked, His whole house and garden is a paradise and cabinet of rarities, And that of the best collection, Amongst metals, Books, Plants, Natural things. Late in his life, Brown parodied the rising trend of collecting curiosities. In his tract, Museum Clausum, An inventory of dubious, Rumored, And non-existent books, Pictures, And objects. Sir Hans Sloane, An English physician, Member of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians, And the founder of the British Museum in London, Began sporadically collecting plants in England and France, While studying medicine. In 1687, The Duke of Albemarle offered Sloane a position as personal physician to the West Indies fleet at Jamaica. He accepted and spent 15 months collecting and cataloging the native plants, Animals, And artificial curiosities of Jamaica. This became the basis for his two-volume work, Natural History of Jamaica, Published in 1707 and 1725. Sloane returned to England in 1689 with over 800 specimens of plants, Which were live or mounted on heavy paper in an eight-volume ararium. He also attempted to bring back live animals, E. G. Snakes, An alligator, And an iguana, But they all died before reaching England. Sloan meticulously cataloged and created extensive records for most of the specimens and objects in his collection. He also began to acquire other collections by gift or purchase. Hermann Borhève gave him four volumes of plants from Borhève's garden at Leiden. William Charlton, In a bequest in 1702, Gave Sloan numerous books of birds, Fish, Flowers, And shells, And his miscellaneous museum consisting of curiosities, Miniatures, Insects, Metals, Animals, Minerals, Precious stones, And curiosities in amber. Sloan purchased Leonard Plukinet's collection in 1710. It consisted of 23 volumes with over 8, 000 plans from Africa, India, Japan, And China. Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, Left him a twelve-volume herbarium from her gardens at Chelsea in Badman upon her death in 1714. Rev. Adam Buddle gave Sloan thirteen volumes of British plans. In 1716 Sloane purchased Engelbert Kempfer's volume of Japanese plants and James Pettiver's virtual museum of approximately 100 volumes of plants from Europe, North America, Africa, The Near East, India, And the Orient. Mark Catesby gave him plans from North America and the West Indies from an expedition funded by Sloan. Philip Miller gave him twelve volumes of plants grown from the Chelsea Physic Garden. Sloan acquired approximately 350 artificial curiosities from North American Indians, Inuit, South America, Lapland, Siberia, East Indies, And the West Indies, Including nine items from Jamaica. These ethnological artifacts were important because they established a field of collection for the British Museum that was to increase greatly with the explorations of Captain James Cook in Oceania and Australia, And the rapid expansion of the British Empire. Upon his death in 1753, Sloane bequeathed his sizable collection of 337 volumes to England for £20, 000. In 1759, George II's Royal Library was added to Sloane's collection to form the foundation of the British Museum. John Tradeskin the Elder was a gardener, Naturalist, And botanist, And the employee of the Duke of Buckingham. He collected plants, Bulbs, Flowers, Vines, Berries, And fruit trees from Russia, The Levant, Algiers, France, Bermuda, The Caribbean, And the East Indies. His son, John Tratuscan the Younger, Traveled to Virginia in 1637 and collected flowers, Plants, Shells, And Indian deerskin mantle believed to have belonged to Powhatan, Father of Pocahontas. Father and son, In addition to botanical specimens, Collected zoological, E. G. The dodo from Maratus, The upper jaw of a walrus, And armadillos. Artificial curiosities, E. G. Wampum belts, Portraits, Lathes turned ivory, Weapons, Costumes, Oriental footwear, And carved alabaster panels, And rarities, E. G. A mermaid's hand, A dragon's egg, Two feathers of a phoenix's tail, A piece of a true cross, And a vial of blood that rained in the Isle of Wight. By the 1630s, The Tradescans displayed their eclectic collection at their residence in South Lambeth. Trattiscon's Ark, As it came to be known, Was the earliest major cabinet of curiosity in England, And open to the public for a small entrance fee. Elias Ashmole was a lawyer, Chemist, Antiquarian, Freemason, And a member of the Royal Society, With a keen interest in astrology, Alchemy, And botany. Ashmole was also a neighbor of the Tradescans in Lambeth. He financed the publication of Museum Tardiscantianum, A catalogue of the Ark collection, In 1656. Ashmole, A collector in his own right, Acquired the Tretaskan Ark in 1659 and added it to his collection of astrological, Medical, And historical manuscripts. In 1675, He donated his library and collection, And the Tretaskan collection, To the University of Oxford. Provided that a suitable building be provided to house the collection. Ashmole's donation formed the foundation of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Places of exhibition of and places of new societies that promoted natural knowledge also seem to culture the idea of perfect civility. Some scholars propose that this was a reaction against the dogmatism and enthusiasm of the English Civil War in Interregnum. This move to politeness put bars on how one should behave and interact socially, Which enabled the distinguishing of the polite from the supposed common or more vulgar members of society. Exhibitions of curiosities, As they were typically odd and forum marvels, Attracted a wide, More general audience, Which rendered them more suitable subjects of polite discourse at the Society. A subject was considered less suitable for polite discourse if the curiosity being displayed was accompanied by too much other material evidence, As it allowed for less conjecture and exploration of ideas regarding the displayed curiosity. Because of this, Many displays simply included a concise description of the phenomena and avoided any mention of explanation for the phenomena. Quentin Skinner describes the early Royal Society as something much more like a gentlemen's club. An idea supported by John Evelyn, Who depicts the Royal Society as an assembly of many honourable gentlemen, Who meet inoffensively together under His Majesty's royal cognizance. And to entertain themselves ingeniously, Whilst their other domestic avocations or public business deprives them of being always in the company of learned men, And that they cannot dwell forever in the universities. Cabinets of curiosities can now be found at Snow's Hill Manor and Wellington Hall, And the Ashmolean Museum has a display of items from its disparate Ashmole and Tradescan founding collections. By the early decades of the 18th century, Curiosities and wondrous specimens had begun to lose their influence among European natural philosophers. As Enlightenment thinkers placed growing emphasis on patterns and systems within nature, Anomalies and rarities came to be regarded as potentially misleading objects of study. Curiosities, Previously interpreted as divine messages and expressions of nature's variety, Were increasingly seen as vulgar expressions to nature's overall uniformity. The Houston Museum of Natural Science houses a hands-on cabinet of curiosities, Complete with taxidermied crocodile embedded in the ceiling, A la Ferrant Imperato's Dell'Istoria Naturale. In Los Angeles, The modern-day Museum of Jurassic Technology anachronistically seeks to recreate the sense of wonder that the old cabinets of curiosity once aroused. In Spring Green, Wisconsin, The house and museum of Alex Jordan, Known as the House on the Rock. Can also be interpreted as a modern-day curiosity cabinet, Especially in the collection and display of automatons. In Bristol, Rhode Island, Musée Paté-Mécanique is presented as a hybrid between an automaton theatre and a cabinet of curiosities, And contains works representing the field of paté-mechanics, An artistic practice and area of study chiefly inspired by pataphysics. The idea of a cabinet of curiosities has also appeared in recent publications and performances. For example, Cabinet Magazine is a quarterly magazine that juxtaposes apparently unrelated cultural artifacts and phenomena to show their interconnectedness in ways that encourage curiosity about the world. The Italian cultural association Wunderkammern uses the theme of historical cabinets of curiosities to explore how amazement is manifested within today's artistic discourse. In May 2008, The University of Leeds Fine Art BA program hosted a show called Wunder Kammer, The culmination of research and practice from students, Which allowed viewers to encounter work from across all disciplines, Ranging from intimate installation to thought-provoking video and highly skilled drawing, Punctuated by live performances. The concept has been reinterpreted at the Victor Wynn Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and National History. In July 2021, A new Cabinet of Curiosities room was opened at the Whittaker Museum and Art Gallery in Rottenstall, Lancashire, Curated by artist Bob Frith, Founder of Horse and Bamboo Theatre. Several internet bloggers describe their sites as wunderkommen, Either because they are primarily links to interesting things, Or inspire wonders similarly to the original wunderkommen. Researcher Robert Gell describes such internet video sites as YouTube as modern-day wunderkommen, Although in danger of being refined into capitalist institutions, Just as professionalized curators refined wunderkommers into the modern museum in the 18th century.