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Subjects (SH) Terminology Resource (Getty Research Institute)

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Concept information

Preferred term

Cabinets of curiosities  

Definition

  • Rooms housing collections of various objects, typically fossils, botanical rarities, shells and taxidermy, along with small artworks such as medallions and statuettes, arranged in cabinets as well as on the walls and ceilings; popular in 16th and 17th c. Europe; focused on the strange and unusual; have been described as the forerunner to the modern museum [AAT]; see also Cabinets (rooms), Collectors' cabinets, Schatzkammern, Studioli

Entry terms

  • Art chambers
  • Cabinets d'amateur
  • Curiosities, cabinets of
  • Curiosity cabinets
  • Kunstkamer
  • Kunstkammern
  • Kunst- und Wunderkammern
  • Natural curiosities, cabinets of
  • Wunderkammern

Notation

  • 110414

In other languages

  • French

  • Cabinet des merveilles
  • Kunst- und Wunderkammern
  • Kunstkamer
  • Kunstkammern
  • Wunderkammern

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/JLC-BHVC354V-R

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