Bôite d’Optique

Cinémathèque française, #AP-94-759

French ca.1846-1848

Box dimensions: H=9 cm, W=9.5 cm, D=19.5 cm

Lens: ⌀=3 cm

 

Figure AP-94-759.1 – Bôite d’Optique
Optical box for circular, translucent, layered images designed by Henri Lefort.   Photo credit: Stéphane Dabrowski, Cinémathèque française.

Figure AP-94-759.2 – Image for the Lorgnette-Diorama
Photo credit: Stéphane Dabrowski, Cinémathèque française.

This is a rare viewing-box for circular, translucent, layered images. It is an example of an "optical machine " and is included in the Optical Machine Taxonomy

 

It is probably an example of the 'lorgnettes-dioramas' that Henri Lefort lists on his company letterhead in 1848.^[1] His toy-making company is listed as early as 1846, so this device may be as early as that. The style of manufacture – the varnished mahogany face, the turning of the lens frame and the sides decorated with a green patterned paper – is unmistakably Lefort's. (See Lefort's workshop.)

 

It has a flap on the top for front-illumination of the view and one at the back for back-illumination. For an illustration of how changing the lighting transforms the view, see Lefort's very similar lorgnette pittoresque.

 

It is unique in being a square box with round views, 9.5 cm in diameter (figure AP-94-759.2). These are a little larger than the lorgnette pittoresque views (8.2 cm), but otherwise identical in form. The whole device is not much larger than the lorgnette pittoresque and was probably a design-step in that direction.

 

Footnotes: