The terrestrial globe in this lot is based on the cartography of the map maker Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann (1754-1840) who 'drew in thirty-six different routes travelled by explorers. His globe undoubtedly represents the high point in the illustration of the history of discoveries'(see E. Dekker and P. van der Krogt, Globes from the Western World, 1993, pp. 94-99). The celestial globe is based on representations of the stars in the constellations by Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826), the renowned astronomer associated with the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Johann Georg Franz (circa 1776-1836) produced these edited versions of the globes in 1804.

The giltwood serpents applied to the legs of the stands is a particularly unusual decoration found on globe stands and is probably inspired by the renewed interest in the Antique following Napoleon's military campaigns in Egypt.