Anamorphic images and cone:
Verwagt nog beeter
(Expect Even Better)
Netherlands, 1700s
Copper alloy cone and anamorphic watercolors
Images: 10 5/8 x 10 5/8 in.
Cone: 3 1/8 x 3 1/8 in.
The Getty Research Institute, Werner Nekes Collection
93.R.118

In this series of anamorphic cards, the first card explains in Dutch that even better—that is, even more tantalizing— images are still to come. Viewers must look directly at the tip of the cone to see the reflected image. Anamorphic images like this one are unintelligible until viewed from the particular vantage point or reflected in the particular mirror that unscrambles them. The effect illustrates the principles of reflection and perspective.