Accession No
6249
Brief Description
13-inch celestial globe, ‘Columbus-Himmelsglobus’, by Columbus, published by Paul Oestergaard, edited by Johannes Riem, after the cartography of C. Luther, German, c. 1930
Origin
Germany; Berlin - Lichterfelde
Maker
Columbus [publisher] Oestergaard, Paul [publisher] Riem, Johannes [editor] Luther, C. [cartographer]
Class
astronomy
Earliest Date
1930
Latest Date
1930
Inscription Date
Material
wood (oak); metal (brass); paper (paper, card?)
Dimensions
Diameter: 33cm; height: 61cm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Dorotheum Auction House, Palais Dorotheum, A-1010 Wien, Dorotheergasse 17, Austria, on or before 29/10/2008. Lot 19 in Historische Wissenschaftliche Instrumente und Globen.
Inscription
Bildhauer
COLUMBUS-HIMMELSGLOBUS
bearbeitet von
PROF. Dr. JOHANNES RIEM
ausgeführt von Kartograph C. Luther
Columbus-Verlag
Paul Oestergaard K.-G., Berlin-Lichterfelde
Description Notes
13-inch celestial globe, ‘Columbus-Himmelsglobus’, made by Columbus Verlag Paul Oestergaard, edited by Johannes Riem, after the cartography of C. Luther, German, c. 1930.
12 printed paper gores with 2 polar calottes, on hollow wood (or cardboard?) sphere. Dark-blue background colour, with ball-and-stick constellations shown, plus pale cloud of various density to show Milky-Way. Stars to 5th magnitude are shown in yellow and connected by straight black lines. Five different shapes are used to distinguish various sizes of stars, as indicated by key, and constellation names are marked.
Hour ring and brass meridian semi-circle, divided 90˚ - 0 - 90˚, graduated to 1˚ and numbered by 10˚. Turned and varnished wooden base.
References
Events
Description
To make celestial maps easier to use, stars that are grouped close together are often identified as a constellation; the name of which may derive from the apparent shape of the grouping such as the Leo constellation, which suggests the shape of a lion. Traditionally, celestial globes have represented these constellations pictorially, with elaborate illustrations of animals, mythical creatures and mechanical objects placed underneath the stars of a constellation. This globe uses a simpler cartography in which the constellations are shown as groups of stars connected by lines. This much clearer representation of the celestial sphere is likely to have been chosen because this globe was intended as an educational aid rather than a decorative item of furniture.
14/01/2014
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 14/01/2014
FM:46728
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