The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Gilt bronze microscope with a gilt, roughly cylindrical lens body held up by a rectangular bonze bar over two plates jutting out, one over the other, below. The plain bar transitions to a swirling gold patterned base. A band of this pattern also raps around the otherwise smooth gold of the cylindrical lens body. The microscope stands on an oval, black base with a small drawer.

Microscope

c. 1745– 1765

France, mid-18th century

gilt bronze mounts
Overall: 28.6 x 15.4 x 11.5 cm (11 1/4 x 6 1/16 x 4 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1974.15
Location: 001A ArtLens Exhibition

Did You Know?

Microscopes, especially ones as elaborate as this example, were luxurious symbols of enlightened aristocratic sophistication in the 1700s.

Description

Composed of elaborate gold-plated parts, this microscope is not just a decorative work of art; it is also a functional tool for scientific inquiry. Its ornamentation reflects the intermingling of art and science during the European Enlightenment, an era when scholars emphasized the study of science and reason as a means of social and intellectual progress. The two lenses of a compound microscope allow for better focus and magnification, making it easier for scientists—amateur and professional alike—to look closer at a specimen to see more than can be seen by the naked eye. This microscope’s ornate decoration suggests it was probably owned by a wealthy person, possibly an amateur scientist.

A version of an 18th-century English poem playfully describes what can be newly seen with a microscope:
Great fleas have little fleas
Upon their backs to bite ’em
The little fleas have lesser fleas
And so ad infinitum.
  • Rosenberg and Stiebel, Inc., New York
    (Rosenberg and Stiebel, Inc., New York).
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1974.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 62, no. 3 (March 1975): 62–102. Reproduced: p. 79; Mentioned: p. 98, no. 38 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 180 archive.org
  • Artlens Exhibition 2019. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer).
    Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975).
  • {{cite web|title=Microscope|url=false|author=|year=c. 1745– 1765|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.15