Cabinets of curiosities were popular in Europe from the 16th through the 19th centuries. At first, European collectors focused on acquiring antiquities and natural objects from their countries and environments. Starting in the 16th century, however, they then became enamored of exotic animals, plants, minerals, and art objects brought back by shipping expeditions from Asia, America, Africa, and Oceania. For the educated art-amateurs, doctors, and scientists, such artefacts were of exceptional value, prized for their beauty, rarity, medicinal use, and even magical powers (such as a unicorn horn).
The name ‘cabinets of curiosities’ comes from the wood cabinets, beautifully crafted, that contained the smaller specimens and cultural artifacts. The term ‘cabinet’ was then used to denote the room itself in which all the items were kept: around the cabinets larger items hung from the ceilings and walls and were piled up on shelves and floors. The only organizing principle used at the time was the separation of objects taken from nature (shells, minerals, animals and so forth) from those made by humans. The ambition of these passionate collectors was to catalogue the world, believing it possible to have one specimen of everything made by God and man. But their intent, of course, was also to dazzle esteemed visitors, overwhelming them with the sheer number, beauty, value, and even grotesqueness of their prized objects.
由16世紀至19世紀，「藏珍閣」在歐洲風靡一時。剛興起之初，收藏家的目標主要是從歐洲當地國家和大自然搜羅所得的古物和天然物品。然而，至16世紀開始，他們對當時航海探險家，從亞洲、美洲、非洲和大洋洲等地遠征而回的戰利品，包括林林總總，光怪陸離的珍禽異獸、植物、礦物和藝術品等興致勃勃。對於飽受教育的藝術愛好者、醫生和科學家來說，這些手工藝品因其美觀、罕見、藥用，甚至如獨角獸等神奇力量，因而爭相追捧，價值有增無已。「藏珍閣」之得名來自時人在家中府邸的一隅，設置裝飾精美的陳列櫃，珍藏一些較為細緻的標本和文物。
其後，由於藏品數量日豐，藏列一隅範圍亦隨之而擴大，演變為一個「藏珍閣」，所有珍品都保存在陳列櫃的周圍，較大型的則懸掛在天花板和牆壁，甚至放在牆架和地板上，猶如一個小型的博物館。當時唯一的擺放原則，就是粗略地將貝殼、礦物、動物等大自然物品，與人類的物品分開。這些收藏家野心勃勃，其最終目標在編製一套類於現代百科全書的世界名錄，包羅由上帝和人類所創造一切萬事萬物的標本。當然，同時也希望在他們的王親貴戚中炫耀一番，以這批珍藏的數量、瑰麗、價值甚至奇異，來提升其身份地位。
