Accession No

1206

Brief Description

orrery and lunarium, by John Jones, English, 1782 - 1791

Origin

England; London

Maker

Jones, John

Class

astronomy; demonstration

Earliest Date

1782

Latest Date

1791

Inscription Date

Material

wood (oak?); paper; metal (brass); ivory

Dimensions

diameter 196 mm main box length 216mm; breadth 214mm; height 110mm second box length 198mm; breadth 100mm; height 21mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Inscription

‘Made by John Jones at No 135 near Furnivals Inn Holborn LONDON Wm JONES’S New Portable ORRERY 39’ (longhand round centre)
‘WINTER SPRING SUMMER AUTUMN’ (printed on base)
‘Equator, Equal day and Night’ (twice on base)
‘Longest Day 16 hours 26 m
Shortest Day 7 hours 34 m’ (On quarters)

Description Notes

Turned (?oak) base; central aperture with brass thread. Paper disc; printed and hand coloured; varnished. Graduated with named months to 1 day and signs of the zodiac (named in Latin and English and marked with symbols). Divided into quarters and marked with the seasons. Fitted wooden box. Set of planetary fittings in brass with brass sun and ivory planets. Jupiter with 4 satellites; Saturn with 5. Manually operated.
Clockwork lunarium; ivory earth (detached) ivory moon (broken away from lunarium). System of brass cogs. Tilting brass ring. Engraved and hand coloured paper discs below; signs of the zodiac and phases of the moon. Blued steel pointer.

Incomplete (one of Saturn’s satellites missing).

References

Events