The making of early modern eye models

Abstract

Anatomical eye models became increasingly popular in the seventeenth century across Europe. They served as useful pedagogical tools, allowing the hands-on study of ocular anatomy and repeated re-enactment of the dissection process, while also being appreciated for their workmanship and aesthetics. Their makers included surgeons, anatomists and artisans, and they often collaborated to produce these artefacts. Comprising materials such as ivory, horn, glass and leather, the components of the model aimed to recreate and stand in for bodily surfaces and textures. This article takes the materiality of the eye model as the starting point from which to explore the role of material-based expertise and insights in producing knowledge of the body. The model encapsulated a conceptualization shared across surgical and artisanal practices that the body was a kind of material, equivalent to the matter craftsmen worked with. It enabled engagement with the body as material and encouraged a re-evaluation of sensory literacy, fostering a way of seeing that also entailed touching.