This homemade peepshow is a lively menagerie on paper. All the animals assembled on the panels are scraps coming from a variety of sources, bringing together a lion, a squirrel, monkeys, butterflies, a kangaroon, against a backdrop of seals bathing in the sea. Two men in period costume seem to guard the gateway to this lush green pergola. This peepshow was made with great care: bellows are attached on three sides so that extra support can be given to the cut-out panels. Moreover, green stiches run all around the panels, rather than just on the three bellows sides; this was certainly to exploit their full decorative effect. A green gauze was used for the bellows, matching the overall colour scheme.

Interestingly, the maker chose to name this work Polyorama, which probably refers to polyorama panoptique, another optical toy that was popular during the nineteenth century. Consisting of a box attached to a concertina device, it was essentially a domestic version of the diorama Although this device differs greatly from the paper peepshow both in structure and working mechanism, they both belong to the realm of optical entertainment that fascinated so many in the nineteenth century.