My Cabinet of Curiosities.

 

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 18^th 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.