Accession No
6244
Brief Description
1 3/4-inch miniature terrestrial (pocket?) globe, attributed to MPS, German, 19th Century
Origin
Germany [based on attributed maker]
Maker
MPS [attributed]
Class
cartography
Earliest Date
1800
Latest Date
1900
Inscription Date
Material
wood; plaster; paper
Dimensions
43mm [diameter]
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Christie's, 85 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 3LD, Lot 99.
Inscription
Description Notes
1 3/4-inch miniature terrestrial globe, German [unsigned, but probably by MPS], 19th century.
12 hand coloured engraved gores, with ungraduated equatorial, tropics and ecliptic, the continents coloured yellow pink and green, showing some rivers and islands. Nomenclature is in English, with all continents named, but only some countries, and some major cities or states. Australia named New Holland, Tasmania shown as an island, New Zealand shown, no Antarctic land depicted, Californea [sic] shown as a peninsula.
References
Events
Description
Joseph Moxon (1627–1691), who wrote The English Globe in 1679, introduced pocket globes to England in the mid seventeenth century. Although their popularity peaked in the eighteenth century, when they were mainly purchased as ornate toys for the amusement of the upper classes, makers continued to produce them into the nineteenth century. Terrestrial globes modelled the Earth’s movements in relation to the stars, Sun and Moon, and promoted interest in exploration and charting the surface of the globe. This globe had twelve hand-coloured and engraved goes with ungraduated equatorial, tropic and eclipitic lines. All of the nomenclature is in English. Australia is named New Holland, New Zealand is shown, no Antarctic land is depicted and California is represented as a peninsula.
14/01/2014
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 14/01/2014
FM:46718
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