Large Salon microscope derived from the Duc de Chaulnes mode - Lot 4

Large Salon microscope derived from the Duc de Chaulnes model by Alexis Magny and signed by him on the plate 'Magny fecit Parisiis Anno 1754 N° 14'. Brass, beech and green-tinted horn (accidents; two plates restored). Approximate height, 45cm. Base 17.2cm x 17.2cm. The three-glass instrument body (lenses missing) is mounted on a rectangular pillar engraved with a positioning scale and a fleur-de-lys; fast movement by flat collars and slow movement by screws. The turntable is solidly mounted on a double arched support. It is fitted with a preparation holder. Underneath is a reflecting mirror. The two-lens eyepiece (missing) is engraved with a positioning scale from 2 to 5. The whole unit is supported by a square, curved-face base incorporating an accessory drawer. The instrument is tilted on its base by a lateral movement locked by an oval-headed screw. To be restored During the 1740s, Michel Ferdinand d'Albert d'Ailly duc de Picquigny and 6th duc de Chaulnes (1714-1769) designed a microscope which, according to Magny, brought together 'all that the best Artists, both foreign and national, have imagined to make the use of this instrument more convenient and useful'. The first model was presented to Louis XV by its supposed manufacturer, Père Nicolas Noël (1712/13-1783), via Chaulnes, the instrument's real designer. Having acquired the Chaulnes/Noël microscope, Louis XV ordered a second one as a gift for his father-in-law Stanislas Leszczynski, the former King of Poland. But Stanislas was elderly, and the instrument had to be adapted so that he could use it sitting down. Magny was given the task. In just eight days, he modified the instrument, adding an ebony guard and endowing the microscope with greater magnification power than the original model. It was from this modified instrument (now in the Musée Lorraine, Nancy) that Magny produced a series of even more simplified instruments over the following years, which he signed, dated and even, unusually for the time, numbered. Thanks to this initiative, we know today that he produced at least nineteen examples. Today, only six are known, including number 14, now on sale. The other examples are : The instrument offered to Stanslas Leszczynski, Musée Lorraine, Nancy An instrument with an illegible number, dated 1752, sold at Christie's London April 24, 2013, lot 73. Instrument N° 13, 1754 described in the Nachet collection catalog, N° 45 Instrument N° 18, 1755, Nordiska Museet, Stockholm Instrument N° 19, 1755, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Alexis Magny (fl. 1734 - post 1792), was born in Namps-au-Monts, a village south of Amiens. From 1733/34, he worked as a mechanic for the Duc de Chaulnes' brother-in-law, the collector and amateur Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson. After the latter's death (1744), Magny set up his own business in the privileged setting of the abbey of St Germain-des-Près, where he continued his research into the construction of marine compasses, and manufactured his own microscopes. Catalog Nachet, N° 45. Presented at the 'Instruments et outils d'autrefois' exhibition, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1936, Catalogue N° 393. Bibliography Alexis Magny, 'Mémoire présenté à l'Académie des Sciences, sur le microscope à trois verres et universel, perfectionné dans leurs verres ainsi que dans leurs montures', Journal Œconomique..., ii janvier 1752, 42-57. Albert Nachet, Collection Nachet: Instruments scientifiques et livres anciens. Notice sur l'invention du microscope et son évolution..., Paris 1929. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Exposition des instruments et outils d'autrefois, Paris 1936. Anthony Turner, 'Two Dukes, a microscope and the making of Science à la mode', in Les Sciences à l'âge des Lumières. Actes du Colloque tenu au Château de la Roche Guyon, le 14 juin 2014, Paris 2017, 36-59. Provenance: NACHET Collection