A Magnificent Miniature Microscope

September 28, 2014

If you had tiny little eyes, you could use this microscope to see even tinier little objects! Barely over two inches tall, the microscope is fully functional. The microscope was made by artist William. R. Robertson, who crafted it after a full-scale microscope in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The full-scale piece was made by Claude-Simeon Passemant in 1760, likely for the science-loving King Louis XV; it’s obvious this is a microscope fit for a king!

To make the miniature microscope, Robertson visited the Met, where he was able to measure and photograph the full-scale piece. Next, Robertson had to match the golden hue of the microscope’s gilt bronze. He tested several different types of gold before discovering that melted Canadian maple leaf gold coins produced the correct shade! The gold is normally burnished with wolf teeth; luckily, Robertson had saved his dog’s puppy teeth after she lost them—a  fine substitute! Another challenge was the microscope’s barrel. The full-scale barrel is covered in a unique material: shagreen, the skin of sharks or stingrays. Often dyed green, shagreen was popular in 18th century France. Robertson had to find a material that would replicate the pattern of shagreen in miniature. While shopping in France, he stumbled upon a decades-old piece of shagreen from a baby shark—the perfect find! In total, the finished microscope contains 125 parts. Now that’s what we call magnificent! See the microscope and other T/m miniatures on view now until February 22 at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.