Cabinets of Curiosities

"Mauriès' tour of strange objects is entertaining and fascinating." — Antiques And The Arts Weekly

Unicorns’ horns, mermaids’ skeletons, stuffed and preserved animals and plants, precious metals, clocks, scientific instruments, celestial globes—all knowledge, the whole cosmos, arranged on shelves in a single room. Such were the cabinets of curiosities of the seventeenth century, the last period of history when man could aspire to know everything.

The collectors were archdukes and kings—the Em...