FORTIN, Jean, Paris (1750-1831)

Details

FORTIN, Jean, Paris (1750-1831)
A PARIS Chez le Sr Fortin, rue de la Harpe, 1770
A 2¾-inch (7cm.) diameter terrestrial globe, made up of twelve hand-coloured engraved gores, the equatorial and Premier Meridien graduated in degrees, the latter running through Iceland, the ecliptic graduated in days and marked with symbols for the houses of the Zodiac, Europe and Greenland outlined in green, the Middle East and Asia outlined in red, Australia shown in dotted outline with little detail, New Zealand shown only by partial coastline, Alaskan coastline shown in dotted outline (large area of southern Asia and the Indian Ocean missing, some surface discolouration), with papered cardboard meridian circle, the ARCTIQUE CERCLE DU POLE represented by a papered cardboard ring pinned to the top of the meridian circle (one pin missing), a similar papered cardboard hour ring originally pinned to the bottom of the meridian circle (detached), in turned ebonized ovoid wooden case with papered cardboard horizon ring and gilt-painted floral decoration (large crack to bottom half) -- 4½in. (10.4cm.) high

See Colour Illustration and Detail (trade label)

Literature

DEKKER, Elly and KROGT, Peter van der, Globes From The Western World (London, 1993) p.76
KROGT, Peter van der, Old Globes In The Netherlands (Utrecht, 1984)

Lot Essay

Jean Fortin (1750-1831) took over part of the publishing house of Robert de Vaugondy when it split in the last quarter of the 18th-Century, and was "a publisher and instrument maker who issued two pairs of globes of 8 and 12 inches, as well as a much smaller globe for his armillary spheres" (Dekker & van der Krogt, p.76). It was Fortin who publicised the important work of English astronomer John Flamsteed (1646 - 1719) in France, through his publication of several celestial atlases. Fortin's shop was in turn taken over, along with the remaining part of de Vaugondy's workshop, by Charles-Franois Delamarche (1740 - 1817).

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