Lot 110
A BRASS SIMPLE MICROSCOPE BY JOHN CLARK, EDINBURGH
DATED 1774
Scottish Applied Arts & Wemyss
Auction: 12 August 2015 at 12:00 BST
Description
the wooden case covered with black fishskin enclosing a fitted interior with brass plaque mount with reciprocal screw aperture for the microscope and bearing inscription JNO. CLARK/ EDIR 1774, the brass instrument brass fittings with a vertical pillar, folding concave mirror, focusing to the stage by a knurled knob and screw, below an adjustable platform with numbered scale (1-5) holding a wheel of five numbered objectives ranging sequentially in power, the original brass slide with nine apertures for specimens, five glazed and containing specimens, the box also containing the original turned ivory box for circular mica specimen covers
Dimensions
box, 11 x 7 x 3.5cm, microscope extended, 15.5cm high
Footnote
Note: This brass simple microscope was made in 1774 by John Clark, a jeweller, goldsmith and optical instrument maker based in Edinburgh between 1749 and 1796. He first offered microscopes, made in silver, for sale in 1749, subsequently modifying their design in 1754, and ultimately advertising a brass instrument from 1773.
In this pocket instrument, designed for the gentleman-amateur, Clark has managed to include all the fittings and accessories found in the much more substantial microscopes used in the contemporary drawing room. The entire instrument folds up and fits into its fishskin-covered case, allowing it to be taken out (in a pocket) into the field.
Clark had at least three shops in his career: one at James Gilliland's Jeweller, at the upper-end of the Luckenbooths (1749); one at Parliament Close (1751-55); and one at Sir Isaac Newton's Head, a little above the Guard, north side of the High Street (1773-82).