Compound monocular microscope with green, tooled leather body tube, ornate base, German or Italian, c.1700

This ornate compound microscope was made around a century after the first prototype microscopes of this type were allegedly developed by Dutch eye-glass maker Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans – this claim is the subject of some dispute. Unlike single lens microscopes, compound microscopes contain at least two lenses.

The tube of this microscope is covered in vellum – a fine type of parchment made from the skin of a young calf or goat. The mount is made from walnut. This microscope may have been a source of entertainment and used to study a wide variety of animals, vegetables and minerals. It is only since the 1800s that microscopes have become central to medicine.