In Ancient Art & Natural History: A Cabinet of Curiosities, Hindman examines the natural wonders of our world and the evolution of our species within it. From a 4.6 billion-year-old meteorite that fell to Earth from outer space to a guidebook used by NASA to put a man on the moon in 1966, this sale traverses the creation of our solar system to mankind’s exploration of it and the ancient civilizations that formed the foundation of our modern worldview.

The Cabinet of Curiosities was born during the European Renaissance when collecting notable objects were in vogue amongst scholars and aristocrats. More specifically, in 1565, Samuel Quiccheberg published his seminal work on the collection and display of objects titled Inscriptiones. This sixty-five-page treatise served as the rationale for the creation of Curiosity Cabinets or Wunderkammers, and eventually the first museums. An underlying principle within the text was to better understand the world and mankind’s place in it through the juxtaposition of material culture.

According to Quiccheberg, the ideal collection was ‘a theatre of the broadest scope, containing materials and precise reproductions of the whole universe’. On offer here are 200 lots of wondrous objects sought to inspire others to develop their own cabinets of curiosities.

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Lot 92

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