My Cabinet of Curiosities.
If you are a collector these days, regardless of your occupation, hobby,
or obsession, there are many resources and avenues for you to pursue your
passion to add, enhance, or complete items for it. The popularity of Antique
Malls, Collector Fairs, and of course, the Internet & eBay have made access
to hard-to-find items of collectors a lot easier than ever before.
Now think back to an earlier time when collecting meant not remembering
but revealing things never seen before. A trophy case of a different kind.
Imagine a world without mobile phones, computers, or smart TVs. Nary a
book to be found either, unless you were wealthy. How would you entertain your
guests after dinner without the aid of any of these devices? Cabinets of Curiosity
were the aristocrat’s answer for those who sought to make more exciting the
opulent but dimly lit parties of pre-Industrial ages.
The guests would be shown and told fascinating stories about items such
as occult manuscripts, skulls of strange animals from parts unknown, pieces
from some ancient ruin, death masks of criminals, and ancient bones from
creatures only whispered about in fairy tales.
Cabinets of Curiosities or Curios started in the sixteenth century but
gained immense popularity in the 18th Century all over Europe and was still popular up until
Victorian times. Travelers and explorers brought back oddities from their
journeys, many that had never been seen before. Some were small and literally
kept in ornate cabinets and shelves. Others had large pieces that filled rooms
and halls. These could include elephant skulls and whale ribs.
To be clear, these collections were a status symbol, a testament to
their intellectual curiosity and knowledge.
It was also a safe bet to say that some of the cabinets weren’t always
built on truth. For example, some items, like the famous Fiji mermaids were made
by stitching together the torso of a monkey to the tail of a fish. But a
spectacle just the same. Our very own platypus was considered a hoax when
it was first brought back to England as a newly discovered animal.
In time some of these collections were considered vulgar and were often
disposed of on the death of the collector, while others were absorbed into
established institutions that remain today such as the London Museum, Saint
Petersburg Museum, Russia, the Louvre in Paris, and Smithsonian Institute.
I’ve been fascinated with these collections for years and about a decade
ago decided to make my own. Not with found objects from my many travels abroad
or weird scientific oddities I discovered (mainly because neither of those
things have ever happened) I just wanted a shelf with an eclectic collection of
weird things that looked cool and would catch people's attention when they
walked passed it. I wanted to base it on one of the paintings that has always inspired
me. The 1690 painting by Domenico Remps, Cabinet of
Curiosities
Over the years I collected old maps and ephemera- mainly from chemist
and hardware shops, little bottles, odd keychains, small weathered mechanical instruments,
statues, ancient little books, barber’s tools, and spectacles. Anything that
looked like it was found in a dark dingy shop owned by an old Gypsy selling
potions.
To house this collection, I found an old medicine cabinet at a flea
market which I wethered and stained to age it appropriately and then added some
extra nooks and brass ornaments.
I was happy with the end result and continued to add when on the
occasion I picked up something fitting.
Is it all real? No. But everything needs to have a story.
Are the stories real? Does it matter? No. Like all true Cabinets of
Curiosity, never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
As a writer, I find it a great inspiration to build a story.
This was often the basis of the original collections. Guests would
gather after dinner whilst their host regaled them with the compelling tale
behind each object, Usually enhanced, and most probably about an item they got from
some merchant or traveler and had no idea of its true providence.
One thing about the Curiosity Cabinet, not just mine but all, is that
they have no labels. This is to ensure the knowledge, that the keeper of the
curios is the owner of the story. This is one of the reasons why museums became
popular, replacing many privately owned Curiosity Cabinets and having detailed
descriptions so that the mystery was shared.
The need for some to collect and show off inspired Curiosity Cabinets,
which in turn established the modern museum as we know it today. Everyone who
collects has their own potential museum. Something they enjoy personally or are
willing to share their gained knowledge with. Either way that can never be a
bad thing.
