(Optical Apparatus) | A Popular Nineteenth-Century Optical Toy

(Optical Apparatus)

Polyorama Panoptique. [Paris, ca. 1850–1860]

Diorama viewer (300 x 357 x 190 mm). Wooden box covered in green paper, mahogany front panel with viewing lens, adjustable bellows, hinged doors at top and back, printed paper instruction label to back, sold by L. Chevalier & Fils, Paris; general wear consistent with age, including chips to paper and wear to wood. [With] 18 handcolored plates of Parisian and European scenes, housed in an orange cloth slipcase; various conditions, overall good. 

Another entry in Jay's collection of optical devices from the nineteenth century. The Polyorama Panoptique, a French invention, was a miniature version of a diorama. The accompanying slides are on very thin paper pierced with holes, and the scene changes depending on the direction of the light source.