Manuscript Inventory of a Seventeenth-Century Scientific Collection - photo 1
Manuscript Inventory of a Seventeenth-Century Scientific Collection - photo 2

Manuscript Inventory of a Seventeenth-Century Scientific Collection

Lot 4
27.01.2023 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 4 410
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 887777
Lot 4 | Manuscript Inventory of a Seventeenth-Century Scientific Collection
Estimate value
$ 2 500 – 3 500
[BLAESING, David (1660-1719) and Karl Gottfried HAGEN (1749-1829).] Manuscript inventory (and related documents) of the scientific Kunst- und Wunderkammer of David Blaesing, left to the Königsberg University, compiled by Karl Gottfried Hagen; titled "Acten zur Blaesingschen Mathematischen Sammlung der Universitaet." Königsberg, 1820-1824.

Folio, 360 x 215mm. 20 pp. of inventory and approx. 6 pp. of correspondence, ink on paper with 2 red wax seals. Contemporary sewn blue paper wrappers with paper manuscript label (faint crease to center, minor soiling).

An important catalogue of the scientific cabinet of the mathematician and astronomer David Blaesing in Königsberg (1660–1719), one of the eight founding members of the Berlin Academy of Sciences instigated by Leibniz (who became its first president). Blaesing focused on mathematical, optical and physical instruments, globes, minerals and naturalia. He bequeathed his library and cabinet to the Königsberg University. There is no printed catalogue of the collection and the present manuscript seems to be the only detailed record of its contents.

The manuscript was compiled between 1820 and 1824 and consists of four catalogues with accompanying correspondence. From the latter we learn that the contemporary curator of the collection was Karl Gottfried Hagen (1749-1829), an important pharmacist, a close friend of Immanuel Kant, and son-in-law of the mathematician and astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel. This documentation of Blaesing’s bequest was due to considerable losses the collection had undergone, and Hagen urges the Königsberg University to relocate the remaining collection and to appoint a new curator (the mathematician K. F. Wrede, 1766-1826). The four catalogues are all in Hagen’s hand.

The first catalogue is Hagen’s copy of the inventory of the bequest of mathematical and optical instruments, drawn up in October 1720 shortly after Blaesing’s death. It lists 184 items on eight pages. Among the items listed are: Speculum concavum; 8 Vergroesserungsglaeser (eight magnifying glasses); 2 nicht gefasste Convex-Glaeser (two convex glasses without mounting); 2 Convexglaeser zu Brillen (two convex lenses for spectacles); tubes and lenses for the Camera obscura; Oculus opticus mit einem Kanal von Blech (with a brass tube); several terrestrial telescopes; a lanterna magica; an ocular with coloured glass and micrometer; prismata triangularia made of glass; mounted convex and polyhedral glasses; two microscopes with small optical pictures and numerous other microscopes; pieces of coloured glass (seven blue, three green, four red); several perspectives of different lengths covered with vellum or brass, some of them from the Netherlands; eleven small lenses for microscopes and six for telescopes; another lot of nine glasses for telescopes, one of them green; a Conus astroscopicus von Pappe.

The second catalogue is Hagen’s autograph copy of an inventory of Blaesing’s physics instruments and naturalia, drawn up by the physicist Karl Daniel Reusch (1735-1806) in 1769-70. It lists 82 items on four pages, and includes 67 mineral specimens. The instruments include a glass blowpipe; a small glass sphere covered with mercury inside (a spherical mirror); a pear-shaped apparatus of blown glass; two small pieces of Vitrum antimonii; 2 Diaboli Cartesiani; a large piece of Marienglas; two glass eyes; another spherical mirror; blue glass; thermometers and barometers, etc.

Hagen’s third catalogue lists the mathematical instruments still present in 1820 (named inventory A at top and correspondingly in his draft letter, where he also explains that most of the physical instruments and the naturalia had already disappeared by then). This list comes to 122 items on four pages. Hagen describes the pieces he saw himself with more precision than his predecessors. He identifies a pair of globes by Blaeu and the glasses are listed in more modern terms, e.g. diopters; spherical mirrors made of glass; six bars of blue glass; a four-sectioned Dutch telescope; 31 glass lenses, partly mounted; a six-sectioned terrestrial telescope of three-foot length and covered with coloured vellum; the lanterna magica again, made of iron with a metal mirror, the glass lenses now lacking; a glass lens of one-inch in diameter, mounted with wood; etc. The fourth and last catalogue (named B) lists all the mathematical and optical instruments lacking and probably stolen, according to an inventory also drawn up by the aforementioned K. D. Reusch in 1769-70. It should be pointed out that the inventories copied by Hagen no longer exist, so these are the only surviving records.

The accompanying correspondence consists of a draft letter (with corrections and insertions) by Hagen addressed to the University Senate and presenting the results of his researches on the collection; a protocol for handing over the remaining pieces to Wrede in 1824 with the latter’s autograph signature; and two official letters from the Königsberg University addressed to Hagen (with red wax seals), exculpating him from any responsibility for the losses and directing the relocation of the remaining collection under Wrede's directorship.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
13.01.2023 – 27.01.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>