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Antique telescopes

Antique telescopes are optical instruments developed from the 17th century onwards for viewing distant objects. Used in astronomy, navigation and scientific observation, they range from early handheld designs to more advanced mounted examples. Often crafted in brass, wood and glass, their refined construction reflects both their practical purpose and the evolving understanding of optics during the scientific revolution. Over time, many telescopes acquired a sculptural quality, valued as much for their form and craftsmanship as for their original function.

At Christie's, antique telescopes are collected at the intersection of science, history and design. Whether associated with maritime exploration or early astronomical study, they offer a tangible link to a period of discovery, where advances in instrumentation transformed the way the world — and the wider universe — was observed.

AN EARLY ITALIAN BINOCULAR TELESCOPE

PIETRO PATRONI, 1719

JAR COLORED DIAMOND AND DIAMOND REVERSIBLE 'TELESCOPIC RINGS' BRACELET

[EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955).] Albert Einstein’s telescope. Manufactured by the Paul Dörffel company, Berlin, late 19th century.

Caspar David Friedrich (Greifswald 1774-1840 Dresden)

White chalk cliffs on the island of Möen, with a seated man looking at the sea with a telescope

Robert Muller (1773-c. 1800)

Portrait of General George Washington (1732-1799) at the Battle of Trenton, full-length, in military uniform with a blue coat with a yellow waistcoat and breeches, a pair of seals hanging from his waist, his telescope in his right hand, his left hand holding his right glove and hat, resting on his sword, an aide beside holding his white charger by the reins, the battle ensuing beyond, after Col. John Trumbull (1756-1843)

A superb example of a very rare type of binocular telescope, signed and dated PETRVS PATRONVS SAC: CÆSÆ. ET CATÆ. MAIESIS. OPTICVS MEDIOLANI. 1720 (Petro Patroni of the Holy Catholic Roman Empire, Optician of Milan 1720),

A GEORGE II MAHOGANY TRIPOD TELESCOPE-STAND

A fine and rare English 11/16-inch astronomical telescope

UNSIGNED, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY, THE TELESCOPE ASSOCIATED

An extremely fine late 18th Century gilt brass and enamel 1 1/2-inch three-draw refracting telescope, engraved "J.J. Cambacérès à Napoléon. Mai 10, 1800"

UNSIGNED, POSSIBLY GENEVA, ENGRAVED ON THE LARGEST DRAW-TUBE "J.J. CAMBACÉRÈS À NAPOLÉON MAI 10, 1800"

A CONSULAT BRASS-INLAID WALNUT TELESCOPIC EXTENDING DINING TABLE

CIRCA 1800

URWERK. A VERY RARE, LARGE AND UNUSUAL LIMITED SERIES DEEP BLUE PE-CVD COATED PLATINUM AUTOMATIC WRISTWATCH WITH 3-DIMENSIONAL SATELLITE HOUR DISPLAY, TELESCOPIC MINUTE HAND, TWIN TURBINE SYSTEM, MOON-PHASES AND DAY/NIGHT INDICATION

SIGNED URWERK, UR-202 PT DEEP BLUE MODEL, NO. 05/10, CIRCA 2009

A rare 19th-Century lacquered-brass 4-inch refracting telescope,

A FINE PAIR OF LOUIS PHILIPPE ORMOLU-MOUNTED BIRCHWOOD MARQUETRY CARD TABLES, each with a rectangular hinged folding top centred by a marquetry-inlaid panel depicting a scene from Aesop's Fable, The Stork and the Fox , one showing the bird and fox by a fountain, the other with the fox drinking from a bowl whilst the stork stands at his side, each within landscape views, signed H. Ahrens and dated 1858 , within a crossbanded and ivory-inlaid border with acanthus scrolls and husk pendants with ribbon-tied berried laurel below and flanked by a ribbon-tied foliate pendant to each side, within a cross-banded and foliate-scrolled border, the playing surface with a burgundy velvet-lined interior, outlined with a variety of woods and shaped spandrels, the panelled frieze with telescopic action inlaid with ribbon-tied foliage within a green stained sycamore border within an ormolu frame work and within two additional sections (used to extend the side panels when being used for cards), each corner with a pair of scrolled acanthus volute brackets above square tapering legs, each with four raised shaped tapering panels inlaid with bell flowers with beaded roundels to the top and acanthus rosettes to the middle, on square tapering blocked feet with beaded border, with a well for the two additional frieze sections, one with a paper label printed H. N. P. Paris within a square border and 4 in ink, and with a cut-out inscription from the Pierpoint Morgan sale and inscribed in ink Pierpoint Morgan Collection Christie's March 29th 1944 Catal. No. 384 , mid-19th Century 38¼in. (87cm.) wide; 29¾in. (75.5cm.) high; 17½in. (44.5cm.) deep (2)

Urwerk，罕有及独特，钛金属自动上弦链带腕表，配立体卫星式小时显示、可伸缩分针显示，月相及日夜显示，“UR-202”，限量生产，特别版本50 枚，编号XXIII-L，约2011 年制

SIGNED URWERK, UR-202 MODEL, EDITION SPECIALE 50 PCS, NO. XXIII-L, CIRCA 2011

A SILVER-GILT TELESCOPE

DOLLOND, CIRCA 1860

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)

A late 19th-century English vernier sextant, the brass lattice frame signed on the arc Dollond London , the inset silver scale graduated 150°-0°-5°, the index arm with tangent screw, clamp adjustment, inset silver vernier scale graduated 15°-0°, and swivel-arm magnifier, 2 ( ?of 3 ) shades, 2 mirror-mounts, and one telescope ( ?of 2 ) with screw-on shade eyepiece, mahogany handle ( lacking mirrors and a few screws, handle chipped ), mahogany case with printed trade label of W M. WE[?]TCHERT, CARDIFF ( label torn, case defective ) -- sextant 23.5cm. high

A REGENCY MAHOGANY TELESCOPIC-ACTION DINING-TABLE

ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS

URWERK. A RARE, LARGE AND UNUSUAL TITANIUM AUTOMATIC WRISTWATCH WITH 3-DIMENSIONAL SATELLITE HOUR DISPLAY, TELESCOPIC MINUTE HAND, TWIN TURBINE SYSTEM, MOON-PHASES AND DAY/NIGHT INDICATION

SIGNED URWERK, UR-202 ALTIN, NO. 20, CIRCA 2009

A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY TELESCOPIC EXTENDING DINING-TABLE

EARLY 19TH CENTURY AND LATER, REMOUNTED

Circle of Pierre-François-Hugues, baron d'Hancarville (Nancy 1719-1805 Padua)

A set of allegorical painted panels in the style of classical red figure vase painting, depicting The Farnese Hercules , Inspiration: Bellorophon and Pegasus before Athena, Apollo and Hermes , Geography: Ancient geographers with a globe and a map , Astronomy: Ancient astronomers with a telescope and an armillary sphere , The Visual Arts: Artists drawing after statues of The Three Graces and Antinoüs , Music: A shepherd piping , and other scenes

A rare 19th-Century 5 1/8-inch (13cm.) brass-bodied astronomical telescope,

Urwerk. A Rare and Unusual 18k White Gold and Titanium Wristwatch With 3-Dimensional Hour Display, Telescopic Minute Hand, Day/Night Indicator and Moon Phases

SIGNED URWERK, UR 202 MODEL, NO. 20, CIRCA 2008

A FINE PREATER-ENGRAVED .300(H. & H. MAGNUM) '1985 SESQUICENTENNIAL ROYAL DE LUXE' DB HAMMERLESS SINGLE-TRIGGER SIDELOCK EJECTOR RIFLE BY HOLLAND & HOLLAND, No. 35545, fully-selective single-trigger with rolled-edge triggerguard, automatic safe, the bolstered treble-grip action-body with elongated top-strap, the lockplates and underside of the action-body with de-luxe game-scene engraving, the right lockplate with Persian wild sheep, the left lockplate with Mesopotamian fallow deer and the underside of the action-bar with Pasang, in their naturalistic settings, the toplever engraved with a ram's-horn and the fences, furniture and remainder of the action-body engraved with birds amidst flowers and foliage with bold scroll work, on a matt ground, the triggerplate signed 'K.E. PREATER ENGR.', bright finish overall, highly-figured stock with pistolgrip (with engraved cap and trap), cheekpiece and leather-covered recoil-pad, sling-swivels, the chopper-lump barrels with matt sight-rib, open-sights and ramp-mounted bead-foresight with fold-away moon-sight, the sight-rib mounted with a Leupold Vari-X-III 1.5X5 telescope (with lens-caps), in quickly-detachable mounts Weight 10lb., 14¼in. pull, 24in. barrels, nitro proof The whole in its oak and leather case with canvas cover and accessories ]

URWERK. A RARE AND UNUSUAL 18K WHITE GOLD AND TITANIUM AUTOMATIC WRISTWATCH WITH 3-DIMENSIONAL SATELLITE HOUR DISPLAY, TELESCOPIC MINUTE HAND, DAY/NIGHT INDICATOR AND MOON PHASES

SIGNED URWERK, UR-202 WHITE SHARK MODEL, NO. 5, CIRCA 2011

A FINE .300 (H & H MAGNUM RIMLESS) D.B. HAMMERLESS 'MODELE DE LUXE' SIDELOCK EJECTOR RIFLE BY HOLLAND & HOLLAND, No. 35116, bolstered treble-grip action, automatic safe, hand-detachable locks, articulated front trigger, best engraving of serpents and winged grotesques amid bold foliate-scrolls, the fences chiselled with griffons, with much hardening-colour, elongated top strap, well-figured stock with pistolgrip, cheekpiece and recoil-pad, sling-swivels, chopper-lump barrels with matt sight-rib, open-sights and ramp-mounted bead-foresight with fold-away moonsight, the sight-rib mounted with a Zeiss Zielvier telescope in Holland & Holland quickly detachable claw mounts

BOREL, Pierre (1620-1689). De vero telescopii inventore, cum brevi omnium conspiciliorum historia ... accessit etiam centuria observationum microcospicarum . The Hague: Adriaan Vlacq, 1655-56. 3 parts in one volume, small 4° (198 x 152mm). 2 engraved portraits of Zacharias Janssen and Hans Lipperhey by J. van Meurs after Berckmann, one folding engraved plate, one engraved illustration, woodcut illustrations, including one of a telescope, initials, with errata at end of part II (small stain on title, occasional light spotting). Contemporary vellum, yapp edges (front hinge broken but still holding firmly). Provenance : Nordkirchen Library (armorial bookplate on verso of title).

URWERK. A RARE AND UNUSUAL ALTIN-COATED STAINLESS STEEL AND TITANIUM AUTOMATIC WRISTWATCH WITH 3-DIMENTIONAL SATELLITE HOUR DISPLAY, TELESCOPIC MINUTE HAND, TWIN TURBINE WIDING SYSTEM, MOON PHASES AND DAY/NIGHT INDICATOR

SIGNED URWERK, UR-202 ALTIN MODEL, NO. 18, CIRCA 2008

A LARGE CARVED STONE FIGURE OF NELSON, by Robert Forrest, depicted standing, in military uniform and with his cloak draped over his shoulders, his left hand holding a telescope and resting on a ship's wheel, his left foot resting on a coil of rope and an anchor on the ground, on integrally carved rectangular base (weathered; minor chips), circa 1836

HOOKE, Robert (1635-1702). An Attempt to prove the Motion of the Earth from Observations . London: T.R. for John Martyn, 1674. Engraved folding plate. Keynes Hooke 16; Wing H-2613; Wellcome III, p. 296; Norman 1093. -- A Description of Helioscopes, and some other Instruments . London: T.R. for John Martyn, 1676. 3 engravings on 2 folding plates. Keynes 19; Wing H-2614; Norman 1095. -- Lampas: or, Descriptions of some Mechanical Improvements of Lamps & Waterpoises . London: for John Martyn, 1677. 3 folding engraved plates (one a double-plate numbered tab. I & tab. II). Keynes Hooke 20; Wellcome III, P. 296; Wing H-2616; Norman 1096. -- Lectures and Collections ... cometa ... microscopium . London: for J. Martyn, 1678. 5 folding engraved plates. Keynes Hooke 22; NLM/Krivatsy 5957; Wing H-2618; Norman 1098. -- Lectures de potentia restitutiva, or of Spring, explaining the Power of Springing Bodies . London: for John Martyn, 1678. 3 engraved plates (2 folding). Keynes 21; Wing H-2619; Norman 1097. -- Animadversions on the first part of the machina coelestis of ... Johannes Hevelius . London: T.R. for John Martyn, 1674. 3 folding engraved plates. Keynes Hooke 18; Wellcome III, p. 296; Wing H-2611; Norman 1094. Together 6 works bound in one volume, all 4 o (each approximately 210 x 155). Engraved plates. (Some minor browning and spotting, occasional soiling.) Contemporary diced russia, covers with gilt borders, spine richly gilt (rebacked preserving original spine, corners worn). Provenance : occasional marginalia in an early hand. COMPLETE SET OF FIRST EDITIONS OF HOOKE'S SIX CULTERIAN LECTURES. In his preface to the first lecture, Hooke explained that the remaining lectures would be published in the same format so that they could be bound together (as here). The lectures were named in honor of Sir James Cutler, who founded a lectureship in mechanics for Hooke in 1664. The first lecture contains Hooke's reformulation of the approach to orbital dynamics. He recognized here for the first time that orbital motion did not depend on centrifugal force, but rather on the principle of rectilinear inertia. This discovery set Newton on the correct path to understanding orbital dynamics. The second Cutleriean lecture (bound here slightly out of order), Animadversions on the first part of the machina coelestis , contains the first descriptions of Hooke's clock-driven telescope and the first form of a universal joint. The Lectures de potentia restitutiva , the fifth published Cutlerian lecture, contains Hooke's law of elasticity--that stress is proportional to strain. The sixth and final published lecture, Lectures and collections , includes an account of the comet witnessed in April 1677. It also prints two letters from Leeuwenhoek concerning his miscroscopical examinations, and gives Hooke's own account of his improved microscopical methods. A RARE COMPLETE SET OF THESE IMPORTANT LECTURES. [ Bound with :] HOOKE, Robert, editor (1635-1702). Philosophical Collections . Numbers 1-7 [all published]. London: for John Martin [no. 1], Moses Pitt [no. 2], Richard Chiswell [nos. 3-7], 1679-1682. 4 o. 7 engraved plates (5 folding), one full-page engraving on Z2r (part 5). (Some minor browning and spotting, occasional soiling.) RARE COMPLETE SET OF ISSUES. Following the death of Henry Oldenburg in 1677, regular publication of the Philosophical Transactions was interrupted. Hooke was authorized by the Council of the Royal Society to publish the Philosophical Collections during this period prior to its resumption in January 1682/3. " Philosophical collections must have circulated in much smaller numbers [than the Phil. trans .], complete sets of the seven numbers being now very uncommon, and it is probable that Hooke received little return for his trouble" (Keynes, p. 48). The third number contains two papers by Hooke, one an optical discourse for the short-sighted, and the other a mechanical discourse in which he describes the "best form of Horizontal Sayls for a Mill." The sixth number contains William Briggs' "Nova visionis theoria," a treatise on the physiology of vision which prompted Newton to reprint it with his own introduction in 1685. Garrison-Morton 1481.3 (Briggs); Keynes Hooke 24; Norman 1100.

Attributed to Jan Wyck (c.1640-1700)

Equestrian portrait of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), small full-length, in armour, holding a telescope in his right hand, a servant holding his helmet to his right, in a rocky landscape

A fine lacquered brass transit theodolite , unsigned , the twin 9½ inch vertical circles with inset silvered scales, the telescope with lens cap, rayshade, micrometer fine adjustment with vernier, the axis hollowed, fitted with lenses and screw caps, the hardened steel end shafts located on double sprung "Attwood's" principle friction mounts, the axis caps numbered 1 and 2 surmounted by acorn finials, or with alternative graduated cross bubble bridge with adjustable reflecting mirror, the iron vertical supports incorporating the vertical circle lock and tangent screw fine adjustment, fitted with twin telescopes; to one side a vertical quadrant support fitted with a graduated level and two horizontal telescopes with micrometer fine adjustment, the vertical bar with key and knurled screw fine adjustment; the other with leaded compensating balanced weight with additional fine adjustment screws for use when necessary, the vertical supports moulded together with the massive horizontal plate attached to the double vernier read-out with twin telescopes, a bracket incorporating the tangent screw fine adjustment and lock, the chamfered silvered horizontal circle fixed to the iron base plate with three adjustable levelling screws, overall height - 25in. (63.5cm.) See Front Cover illustration (2)

An extremely fine early 19th-Century gilt-brass and enamel 1 ½-inch three-draw refracting telescope,

A Rare Small Glass Telescope and Lacquer Stand

EDO PERIOD (LATE 18TH - EARLY 19TH CENTURY)