Microscope in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Microscope
ca. 1750

Optical elements by Claude-Siméon Passemant


Object Details

Title: Microscope

Maker: Optical elements by Claude-Siméon Passemant (1702–1769)

Date: ca. 1750

Culture: French, Paris

Medium: Gilt bronze, shagreen, tinted parchment with gold tooling, steel, brass, mahogany, mirror glass, glass

Dimensions: Gr. H. 24-1/4 in. (61.6 cm); Gr. W. and D. 10-3/4 in. (27.3 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Gilt Bronze

Credit Line: Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift and Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, by exchange, 1986

Accession Number: 1986.1a–d


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.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/207549