Accession No
5892
Brief Description
10-inch terrestrial globe, containing orrery, by Benjamin Tena, Spanish, late 19th century
Origin
Spain; Castellon
Maker
Tena, Benjamin
Class
astronomy; cartography; demonstration
Earliest Date
1899
Latest Date
1902
Inscription Date
Material
wood; paper (card); metal (brass, steel, tin)
Dimensions
height 520mm; diameter 250mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Trevor Philip and Sons Ltd., 75a Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6NP, on 16/12/2002.
Inscription
BENJAMIN TENA
GLOBOS
CON PATENTE
PLANETARIOS
VILLA FRANCA DEL CID (CASTELLON)
(On southern hemisphere of outer globe)
Description Notes
10-inch terrestrial globe, containing orrery, by Benjamin Tena, late 19th century, Spanish. Hollow pasteboard globe lined with printed paper.
Turned wooden base; turned wooden handle on top of globe. Northern hemisphere lifts off to reveal a simple orrery, with models of the sun and the earth turning over a paper faced tin calendar; arms carrying panels attach below the mechanism, one for Jupiter, one with ‘SOLO' written in pen, the third is blank; the inner surface of the globe (both hemispheres) carries a vast amount of information on the various subjects of natural history.
condition: good; incomplete (missing moon and several planets)
References
Sebastian Falk; “A Spanish Globe: Origins and Interpretation; ” Globe Studies 59/60 (2014): 142–59; https://www.jstor.org/stable/44755481.
Events
Description
The top half of this globe can be removed to reveal a planetarium, which runs on a simple geared mechanism that shows the rotation of the Earth and planets around the Sun. The inner surface of the globe also contains numerous details about various aspects of natural history, including illustrations of extinct animals including dinosaurs, the Dodo and mastodons. Many of these images were copied from French popular science books by Camille Flammarion (1842–1925) and Louis Figuier (1819–1894), which were lavishly illustrated and specifically aimed at children. Though it is possible that this globe was an expensive toy for the child of wealthy parents, it is more likely that it was used as a teaching aid in a classroom. Education in Spain changed significantly during the late nineteenth century: thousands of schools were built, and an entirely new teaching philosophy was introduced. Children were encouraged to learn through play and experimentation, and new industries sprang up first to import and later to produce the equipment necessary to support this novel approach to pedagogy.
14/01/2014
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 14/01/2014
FM:46339
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