Details
A magnificent gilt-brass Ptolemaic armillary sphere,
unsigned and undated, associated with the terrestrial and celestial gilt-metal globes made for Sultan Murad III dated 1579, and sold at Christie's King Street, London, on 30 October 1991, lot 139, engraved by the same hand as the globes, and of the same date, 1579 -- overall height 16 1/8in. (41cm.) , overall width 15in. (38cm), height of stand to horizon ring 9¼in. (23.4cm.), diameter of sphere 13in. (33cm)
unsigned and undated, associated with the terrestrial and celestial gilt-metal globes made for Sultan Murad III dated 1579, and sold at Christie's King Street, London, on 30 October 1991, lot 139, engraved by the same hand as the globes, and of the same date, 1579 -- overall height 16 1/8in. (41cm.) , overall width 15in. (38cm), height of stand to horizon ring 9¼in. (23.4cm.), diameter of sphere 13in. (33cm)
Literature
Henri Michel Scientific Instruments in Art and History (London, 1967), no. 48 for a picture of the 1575 Arsenius armillary sphere
Henry C. King, with J.R. Millburn Geared to the Stars: The Evolution of Planetariums, Orreries and Astronomical Clocks (Toronto and Bristol, 1978), especially chapter 2
Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York, 1970-80), Brahe, Tycho; Ptolemy, Claudius
Christie's catalogue The Murad III Globes Christie's King Street, 30 October 1991, lot 139.
G.L'E. Turner and E. Dekker "An Astrolabe attributed to Gerard Mercator circa 1570", Annals of Science, 50 (1993), pp. 403-443
G.L'E. Turner "The Three Astrolabes of Gerard Mercator", Annals of Science, 51 (1994), pp. 329-353
Henry C. King, with J.R. Millburn Geared to the Stars: The Evolution of Planetariums, Orreries and Astronomical Clocks (Toronto and Bristol, 1978), especially chapter 2
Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York, 1970-80), Brahe, Tycho; Ptolemy, Claudius
Christie's catalogue The Murad III Globes Christie's King Street, 30 October 1991, lot 139.
G.L'E. Turner and E. Dekker "An Astrolabe attributed to Gerard Mercator circa 1570", Annals of Science, 50 (1993), pp. 403-443
G.L'E. Turner "The Three Astrolabes of Gerard Mercator", Annals of Science, 51 (1994), pp. 329-353
