Featherstone Vaults

Collection

Scientific & Curious

Instruments, astronomical and optical apparatus, and objects that resist classification.

Seventeenth-century planispheric astrolabe in brass and steel.
Representative collection image · The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Wikimedia Commons · CC0

How we catalogue it

Instruments are assessed for completeness, originality of finish and whether they still function. The department also holds the objects that belong to no obvious department, which are often the most interesting things in the catalogue.

Instruments · Optical · Uncommon

Currently catalogued01

Catalogue plates are shown blank. Featherstone Vaults photography is in production and will replace them entry by entry; no stand-in imagery is used.