Both quasi-encyclopedic and essentially aesthetic, early collector’s cabinets maintained no real line between the natural and the unnatural, the secular and the religious. Insofar as an organizing principle existed, it was to maximize impact by playing dissimilar objects off each other: the desired effect, as historian of science Lorraine Daston writes, “was one of cornucopia-like bounty and startling variety, a visual tribute to the exuberant creativity of nature and art”. The natural philosophy of the day was capacious enough to include everything that would later crystallize into distinct fields: the arts, the sciences, theology. The Kunstkammer’s contents were for study broadly construed, a stage for contemplation in the most general sense of the word. The space was also a way of showcasing the collecting connoisseur’s taste, wealth, and discernment. Owning naturalia, scientific instruments, and fine art, writes scholar Marlise Rijks, signaled possession of “the knowledge these objects stood for”. The earliest known image of a cabinet — a 1599 woodcut illustrating the natural history collection of the Neapolitan apothecary Ferrante Imperato — shows Italian connoisseurs pointing out specimens gathered from across the world.
