THE STANDS MID-18TH CENTURY, THE GLOBES AND BRASS BY CHARLES DIEN, 1849

These globes, on a rare pair of Louis XV stands, reflect the incorporation of science and learning into the aesthetic world of the 18th century collector. The adaptation of the globes themselves in the mid-19th century, when they were updated with new gores by Charles Dien, demonstrates the practical importance of reflecting the latest geographical and astronomical discoveries.

Very few comparable examples of 18th-century globes survive but a related pair, the Louis XV stands with slightly different carved decoration and stretcher, are currently preserved in the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. With globes circa 1728 by Jean-Antoine Nollet, dit l’abbé Nollet dedicated to the Duchesse de Maine and the comte de Clermont, these examples were formerly in the collection of the Gilbert de la Rochefoucauld, duc de la Roche-Guyon and then in the Steinitz collection.

Charles Dien (1809-1870) was an important cosmographer who specialised in the production of celestial globes and made notable progress in this art with the invention of supports parallel to the equator and by the substitution of spun metal spheres for cardboard globes. His work also included a large number of maps and astronomical tables.