Accession No
3798
Brief Description
orrery, by George Philip and Son, English, late 19th Century
Origin
England; London; 32 Fleet Street
Maker
George Philip and Son
Class
astronomy; demonstration
Earliest Date
1875
Latest Date
1900
Inscription Date
Material
wood (mahogany); metal (brass, white metal); ivory
Dimensions
diameter 470mm; height 370mm; total length 745mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Christie’s, London, England; lot 33, 21/03/1991. Purchased with the aid of a grant from the Science Museum’s Preservation fund.
Inscription
‘G. Philip & Son, 32, Fleet St London, E.C.’ (main plate)
Description Notes
Mahogany table raised on three turned legs. On underside is the hand-operated gear drive to the planetary arms. Planets are coloured bone or ivory (includes Uranus and Neptune); with tellurium: geared mechanism has silvered brass moon-phase dial. Gilt-painted sun ball in centre. Colour printed paper circle with horizon ring with zodiac, calendar, wind ring and degree scales; two degree scales divided in opposite directions 0 - 90˚ - 0 - 90˚ - 0. Detachable handle fixes to underside mechanism.
Condition good; complete
References
Events
Description
Orrery
First made in about 1713, orrerys modelled the motions of the earth, moon and sun and sometimes other planets and satellites too. They illustrate the sun centred Copernican cosmology.
Grand orrerys were actually pieces of furniture. They tended to be very decorative and very large (although smaller versions were designed to be portable). This is illustrative of the fact that astronomy was commonly done by polite society, and that orrerys were used for entertainment as well as education.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:40031
Images (Click to view full size):
