Matthias Buchinger, the first one!

I republish a post, which had already been published 11 years ago, about the oldest known miniaturist inside bottles: Matthias Buchinger. His works precede those of Giovanni Biondo by 65 years!

Matthias Buchinger was born in 1674 in the city of Ansbach, Germany, without hands or legs. He was an artist and performer of magic, performed many demonstrations in many European courts and became known as the "little man of Nuremberg". He was in England and later in Ireland, where he died in Cork city. He was married four times and had at least 14 children (from eight women). Despite his disability, having no hands, Buchinger built miniatures inside bottles with scenes of mining exploration, with his motto being to overcome all difficulties, especially those caused by his physical limitations.

The following photographs of the oldest known bottle were taken in Worcestershire by my friend Alan Rogers, President of the European Bottle Boat Association. The bottle is about eight centimeters tall and represents a mine. In this mine, two levels are visible, one that has an outer gallery, where there is a pulley that releases the ore extracted inside, and the lower level that represents a gallery where there are miners excavating ore.

In this new publication I also add references and photographs from an auction page for museum pieces. It is another bottle, dating from the 18th century, with a scene from the Passion and is attributed to Buchinger, although nothing appears in the images, such as the manuscripts on the previous bottle proving that it really belongs to Buchinger.

To learn more about the bottle, which shows various layers with different scenes, you can visit our friend Peter Huber's website by clicking here.

Thanks to Alan Rogers and Peter Huber!

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