This beautiful English compound microscope is signed by John Marshall and is dated around 1720. The model featured has been redrawn from photographs of the original microscope, which is featured in Gerard Turner's excellent book Collecting Microscopes, a volume in Christie's International Collectors Series of books on antiques.

The microscope has a octagonal walnut base with ebony mouldings, and contains a storage drawer for accessories. A long brass pillar is mounted on the base with a swivel joint, to which the microscope body and stage are attached with adjustable collars. The body is made from pasteboard and covered with green tooled velum and gray rayskin. The lens mounts cap each end of the body tube, and are also fashioned from ebony. A single brass objective is positioned on the ebony nosepiece.

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