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Thaumatropical Amusement

1825
Medium/TechniqueHand-colored etchings with string; housed in a wooden box with faux-shagreen paper covering
DimensionsHeight x width: 3.2 × 7.6 cm (1 1/4 × 3 in.)
Credit LineThe Richard Balzer Collection—Gift of Patricia Bellinger Balzer
Accession number2019.852.1-7
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsTools and equipment
InscriptionsOn box label, engraved: Thaumatropical / Amusement / To illustrate the seeming / Paradox of / Seeing an object which / is out of sight, / and to demonstrate the faculty / of the retina of the eye to re- / tain the impression of an / Object after its disappearance. / Price 1. s. / Vide et crede
ProvenanceBetween about 1970 and 2017, acquired by Richard Balzer (b. 1944 - d. 2017), Brookline, MA; by inheritance to Patricia Bellinger; 2019, gift of Patricia Bellinger to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 24, 2019)