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| Curiosity Cabinet Poster |
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Cabinets of
natural curiosities were the precursors of today’s natural history
museums. Essentially, they were collections, displayed in
cabinets, of interesting specimens found in nature, including
everything from insects to seashells, to plants to fossils, to
monstrosities such as two-headed animals. The first ones appeared
around 1500 in the courts of Italian princes but, by the following
century, they were quite popular and widespread.
Albertus Seba (1665-1736), a Dutch apothecary, had one of the
most extensive collections of natural curiosities in Europe. He
sold his first collection to the Russian czar, Peter the Great,
who used it to start the Russian natural history museum. He
immediately started another collection and items from it can be
found in the Zoological Museum in Amsterdam, the British Museum in
London and the Natural History Museum in Stockholm.
Throughout his life, Seba commissioned artists to draw
all the specimens in his cabinets as they would have appeared in
life. He had them engraved and published them as a set of folios.
This poster was created from those folios. It's a great tribute to
the beginning of today’s natural history museums.
Great care went into selecting a diverse range of
subjects. They include shells, coral, insects, reptiles, fish,
crustaceans and many other natural curiosities. They are presented
within a “cabinet” border permitting everybody to have their very
own curiosity cabinet. |
| Standard poster is large 24"
x 36" size that fits standard frames. Printed on heavy,
acid-free paper using non-fade inks, then coated to provide satin
finish and provide protection from scratching. Laminated
poster is standard poster encapsulated in 3 mil plastic.
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Standard:
No. GA110-CCS. Only $9.95
Laminated:
No. GA110-CCL. Only $14.95 |
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