Accession No
0181
Brief Description
compound microscope; made by Krunes Freres; circa 1830
Origin
Quai de L’horloge; Paris; France
Maker
Krunes Freres
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1830
Latest Date
1830
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, gold); wood; glass; cloth (silk, leather)
Dimensions
box length 151mm; breadth 120mm; height 67mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from R. Middegaels, Paris, France, on 13/11/1924.
Inscription
‘Krune Freres
Quai de l’horloge a Paris’
Description Notes
Triangular section pillar screws into lid of box; swinging concave mirror fits to base of pillar (mount broken); stage support moved by blued steel screw with brass knurled head; circular stage with spring clip; lens holder at head of pillar; tapered compound body with field lens and screw thread for objectives; brass collar and eyepiece; 3 objectives which combine; stage forceps; ivory 5-object slide; tweezers; swinging condenser lens.
Wooden box (with [birds-eye] maple veneer) lined with silk and leather with fitted leather tray with gold tooling.
Condition
References
Events
Description
Robert Stewart Whipple had a particular interest in the history of optical instruments, especially microscopes. Over the course of his life Whipple would acquire more than two hundred examples—nearly 20% of the objects in his collection. This is one of them, purchased in Paris in 1924.
Like many of his contemporaries, Whipple conceived of the gradual improvement of instruments in evolutionary terms. When microscopes were collected together and displayed chronologically, one could see the step-by-step advancements in optical quality and mechanical design that had led to the state-of-the-art instruments of the present day. In this way, historic instruments were vital material sources for understanding the progress of science itself.
08/10/2025
Created by: Hannah Price on 08/10/2025
FM:42854
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