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1948 |
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2015 |
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Optical Toy, Phenakistiscope Disc with Cats and Donkey
This is a Optical toy. It is dated ca. 1830 and we acquired it in 1948. Its medium is hand-colored lithograph on paperboard. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
The phenakistiscope was the first widespread device that created an optical illusion of fluid motion. Attached to a vertical handle, discs such as these would be held up to a mirror and spun. Peering through the moving slits, which prevented the images from simply blurring together, the viewer would see the animation by looking at the reflected advancing images, in this case a donkey wiggling its ears and two running cats.
It is credited Museum purchase through gift of Mrs. John Innes Kane.
- Frieze (USA)
- hand painted on drafting cloth.
- Gift of Abraham Edelman.
- 1992-28-3
Its dimensions are
H x diam.: 25 × 25 cm (9 13/16 × 9 13/16 in.)
Cite this object as
Optical Toy, Phenakistiscope Disc with Cats and Donkey; hand-colored lithograph on paperboard; H x diam.: 25 × 25 cm (9 13/16 × 9 13/16 in.); Museum purchase through gift of Mrs. John Innes Kane; 1948-124-3
