Body-tube of compound microscope made of cardboard covered in vellum decorated with gold tooling and red and green blotches. Only the eyepiece is present. The quality of the glass, which shows a large number of bubbles, suggests that the instrument was made in the early eighteenth century, or perhaps slightly earlier. The colored patterns on vellum are mainly characteristic of English microscopes, but this example is certainly Italian. The lower part of the tube was probably either held in a collar fastened to a pillar mounted on a base, or was inserted in a tripod. Provenance: Medici collections.