William Blake's spectacles
Maker: Unknown
Steel frame with circular glass lenses
Steel frame with glass lenses. Circular lenses with arched bridge between, and sloping lugs at the side. The right lense is 3.25 DS (dioptre sphere) and the left lense 3.50 DS. The two hinged arms taper to terminate in circular face grips. With a pressed cardboard case (A) varnished dark brown on the outside, painted light green on the bezel and mid blue in the interior.
History note: William Blake; given by Mrs Blake to Samuel Palmer, father of A.H. Palmer. Acquired by Lt Col. W.E. Moss; sold at Sotheby's 2 March 1937, lot 283 with a letter of authentication from A.H. Palmer
Given by Lord Rothschild
Method of acquisition: Given (1948-06-03) by Rothschild, Lord
18th Century, Late-19th Century, Early#
After
1780
-
Before
1827-08-12
The DS (dioptre sphere) of the lenses indicates that the wearer could see well at near range but would require the spectacles for other purposes.
Surface Of Case
composed of
varnish
Interior Of Case
composed of
paint
Case
composed of
cardboard
Height 1.7 cm
Length 12.8 cm
Width 4.5 cm
Frame
composed of
steel
Lense
composed of
glass
Inscription present: small rectangular sheet of headed notepaper
Accession number: M.9 & A-1948
Primary reference Number: 150724
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "William Blake's spectacles" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/150724 Accessed: 2024-11-22 07:47:18
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/150724
|title=William Blake's spectacles
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 07:47:18|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-150724
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