Under a Magnifying Glass

June 23, 2014

While we wish that we could walk into The Metropolitan Museum of Art to measure, study, and photograph a 200-year-old secretary, we aren’t all fortunate enough to be miniature artists. For Paul Runyon, this was just the first step in crafting a miniature version of the Goddard-Townsend block and shell desk and bookcase. Made by the Goddards and Townsends, two intermarried 18th century Rhode Island furniture-making families, the desk gets its name from the raised blocks and carved shells on its surface.

Runyon was so particular that he was known to discard his plans for a miniature if he couldn’t make every single part in exact 1/12th scale. He worked under a magnifying glass to assemble the secretary because some of the pieces are as thin as .028 (or 7/250th) of an inch. It took him almost a year to complete this extraordinary work of art.