Cabinets of curiosities are rooms, or sometimes pieces of furniture (cupboards, cabinets), in which collections of “rare, new, and unusual things” are stored and displayed, to use Littré’s definition. They contain a heterogeneous mix including:
• naturalia, objects from natural history across the three kingdoms:
◦ mineral (precious stones, fossils, unusual stones such as heliotropes, fulgurites or “thunderstones” — first discovered in the 17th century — and many other objects that had long interested alchemists)
◦ animal (taxidermied animals, dried insects, shells, skeletons, carapaces, horns, teeth, tusks)
◦ plant (herbaria, painted herbals, florilegia)
• artificialia
◦ objects created by humans: archaeological artifacts, antiquities, medals, works of art, weapons, display items (boxes, snuffboxes, small flasks)
◦ modified objects: artworks such as paintings on stone, pieces made of semi-precious or precious stones (cameos, intaglios), rock crystal, ivory, amber, mounted nautilus shells used as drinking vessels, ostrich eggs, etc.
• scientifica (scientific instruments, automata, zograscopes, etc.)
• exotica (exotic plants, animals, and ethnographic objects)
One of their functions was to reveal the world — including distant realms in time and space — to better understand it, or to confirm the beliefs of the time (one might find remains of mythical animals, unicorn horns, the Tartary lamb — half animal, half plant — or Baara roots.
The publication of catalogues, often illustrated inventories, made it possible to disseminate their contents among European scholars.