Accession No

0535

Brief Description

spectacles, temple, 1830 (c)

Origin

Maker

Class

optical

Earliest Date

1830

Latest Date

1830

Inscription Date

Material

organic (tortoise shell); glass; metal (silver); cloth (velvet)

Dimensions

length 130mm; breadth 41mm; thickness 14mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased from T.H. Court on 28/05/1927.

Inscription

Doesn’t specify whether R.S. Whipple personally purchased this object from T.H. Court.

Description Notes

Tortoise shell. Oval frames one lens missing; other convex. Straight side pieces. Tortoise shell slip case with hinged lid; silver mounts; silver shield.

Condition: fair; incomplete (one lens missing).

References

Events

Description
Spectacles
Usually consisting of a pair of lenses held in a frame, spectacles may have originated in the ancient civilizations of China and the Mediterranean, but early forms were crude. It was only in the 18th century that the grinding of lenses became sufficiently advanced to make then really effective for correcting sight defects. In order to correct for near sightedness, the lenses must be concave, which diverges the rays of light (angles them apart), and for long sightedness they must be convex, to angle the rays of light together.

Spectacles are not solely used for defective eyesight; the Inuit and the Yupik use wooden spectacles with very small slits in them to reduce the glare from snow and ice.

FM:42740