Celestial table globe

Celestial table globe. It forms a pair with the terrestrial globe, Oterschaden GLB0119. Astronomical details on the sphere include a magnitude table in front of Ursa Major. The Milky Way is drawn but not labelled, and two stars and one star group are named. The 48 Ptolemaic constellations are drawn and one non-Ptolemaic constellation is drawn. The style of the constellations includes Bootes depicted with hunting dogs, an unidentified youth located at the end of Eridanus and Antinous is drawn in the so-called Demongenet style.

The date of this pair of globes is based on the dedication to the Bishop of Comminges, who was in office from 1580 to 1613. That Oterschaden worked in a French sphere of influence is further indicated by the fact that the cartography of his celestial globe appears to be close to that of the globes made by Francois Demongenet during the 1560s. Demongenet, who died before 1592, was a mathematician who lived in Vesoul. For a copy of the Oterschaden celestial globe of about 1650, see GLB0172, made after Oterschaden. X-ray images show that the gores were put on as if this were a terrestrial globe (rotating on a polar axis). For full details about the cartography and construction of this globe please refer to the related publication.

Object Details

ID: GLB0120
Collection: Astronomical and navigational instruments; Charts and maps
Type: Table globe
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Oterschaden, Joannes
Date made: circa 1600
People: Urban de Gelais, Urban de
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: Overall: 300 x 236 x 234 mm; Diameter of sphere: 165 mm; Diameter of Meridian Ring: 193 mm
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