Accession No
0523
Brief Description
spectacles, temple in case, tentatively attributed to Carpenter and Westley, English, 1830 (c)
Origin
England; London [based on attributed maker]
Maker
Carpenter and Westley [tentative attribution]
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1835
Latest Date
1835
Inscription Date
Material
organic (tortoiseshell); glass; cloth (velvet); metal (silver)
Dimensions
length 123mm; breadth 33mm; thickness 13mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from T.H. Court on 28/05/1927.
Inscription
Description Notes
Tortoise shell. Oval frames; convex lenses. Wide C-bridge. Side pieces with ring ends and velvet padding on the inside. Tortoise shell slip case with hinged lid and silver mounts.
Condition: good; complete.
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:42746
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