Polyorama 20

Museo Nazionale del Cinema Collection, Torino, Italy^[*] #MNC-M01039

France, 1849

Dimensions: H=17.2 cm, W=21.8 cm, D=37

Lens: ⌀=4.7 cm, ƒ=32.5 cm

 

Figure M01039.1 – Polyorama 20
Photo © Rod Bantjes.

Figure M01039.2 – Polyorama 20
MNC-M01039 (bottom) beside MNC-M04936 showing their reflective flaps.   Photo © Rod Bantjes.

This is a viewer for paper dioramas characterized by the soft bellows for adjusting the viewing lens. It is the "medium" sized Polyoramas Panoptique, taking a 14.5 x 20 cm plaque dioramique. It is an example of an "optical machine" and is included in the Optical Machine Taxonomy.

 

It has typical features of Polyoramas Panoptique:

	• synchronized top and back flaps to control the lighting and bring out the transformations in the plaque dioramique;
	• a bellows that allows for adjustment of the lens position (not focus);
	• a small lens for one-eyed viewing (therefore a weak 3D effect);
	• softwood body with green patterned paper (this box has a similar thin lozenge pattern to WN-GT135;
	• a lens-frame turned in wood with a distinctive pattern: two double ridges separated by a cove or valley (see MNC-M03371).

 

This box, along with MNC-M03371 and MNC-M04936 (Figure M01039.2) has a top flap with a reflective surface of gold-coloured foil. Lefort seems to have wanted the front-illumination to have a warm, sunset glow. Note that the back flap is silver-foiled.

 

For more on Polyoramas Panoptique you can read my discussion of the one in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum in Exeter, UK.

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