A pair of George I 8 ¾-inch terrestrial and celestial...
the terrestrial globe with cartouche reading A New GLOBE of ye EARTH / Corrected from Observations commu / nictaed to the ROYAL SOCIETY of LONDON / and the ROYAL ACADEMY of PARIS / By Iohn Senex / Sold by I. Senex at the Globe / against St Dunstons Church in / Fleet Street / London 1715, the twelve hand-coloured engraved gores applied to a papier mache sphere with brass hour ring and pointed screwed on to the graduated brass meridian ring, and horizontal ring printed with zodiac, calendar scales and compass directions, mounted on oak and ebonised fruitwood stand with turned legs on bun feet and a circular platform base, platform base to terrestrial globe with manuscript paper label reading *** 1746 / to J H Ward 1820 by Ed H
overall 36cm. high, 34cm. wide; 1ft. 2in., 1ft. 1 ½in.
Condition Report:
Well-preserved pieces in very good restored condition. The paper of the maps with occasional small losses and warps, but generally smooth and with clear detail. Signs of restoration and possible replacement to the paper on the meridian rings, notably to February of the terrestrial example, where there is also an areas of discoloration. This example also has a fine crack of around 2cm running perpendicular from the inner rim. The metalwork is all in sound condition, but with an accumulation of dirt and tarnish so would benefit from a gentle clean, The wooden stands with signs of use and wear throughout, including chips to the rims. Remarkable preserved condition with extraordinary provenance.
Catalogue Note:
With every detail of the earth’s geography instantly accessible to us today, we can overlook the centuries of careful, accumulated research that have brought us to this height of extensive knowledge. The surviving globes of previous eras can give us an absorbing snapshot of our understanding of the earth at a point when this was constantly evolving. Combining the utility of a scientific instrument with decorative status of fine furniture, globes had a clear appeal to scholars and gentlemen in particular: appropriately, these globes belonged to a President of Harvard who fostered learning in one of the primary educational hubs of the United States for a tenure of twenty-eight years.
The globe in eighteenth-century Britain
The antecedents to the printed globe of the eighteenth century stretch back to antiquity, particularly after Claudius Ptolemy systematised the measurement of coordinates and the celestial constellations in the second century AD. The Renaissance saw the rise of the terrestrial globe as a pendant to a celestial globe, and both types are pictured in Holbein’s 1533 double portrait The Ambassadors. The Age of Exploration saw great swathes of the earth mapped and understood for the first time, leading to a surge in the production and demand for globes that was supported by the now well-established printing industry. While globes had previously been most commonly used as diplomatic gifts or in universities, their greater proliferation in this period meant that they also became prestigious objects in the libraries of merchants and gentlemen keen to develop and display their erudition. While globe production had previously tended to be localised within Continental European centres like Nuremberg, domestic production in England began to develop during the eighteenth century through the work of cartographers like John Senex, Charles Price, Richard Cushee and George Adams.
The globes of John Senex
John Senex (1648-1740) was a prominent cartographer and printer across various media, contributing significantly to the field in numerous ways. In the field of flat printed maps, his highly successful English Atlas (1714) remained in print for around 50 years, and he was also well-known for issuing a revised version of Ogilby’s Britannia (1675) with the road maps updated to reflect the 1710s. His globes were recognised as being of the highest quality and accuracy: his were the first globes to use the Bayer notation to identify stars, and he was one of the earlier adopters of arrows to denote the direction of trade winds on his terrestrial globes. He first became a freeman of the Stationer’s Company in 1705-06, and after a series of successful business partnerships with Charles Price and John Maxwell, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1728. Even after his death, the copper plates for his globes continued to be traded for use in print for decades, first by his widow, then by James Ferguson until 1757, then by Benjamin Martin. With some updates, his maps were still forming the basis for globes made by Martin and several others as late as the 1790s, demonstrating the prestige of the Senex name.
Very few Senex globes appear on the market, with most globes dating to the earlier nineteenth century, and those dating from Senex’s earlier career in the 1710s tending to be rarer than his later ones. Most comparable examples are in public collections, often of universities and places of learning. The...
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the terrestrial globe with cartouche reading A New GLOBE of ye EARTH / Corrected from Observations commu / nictaed to the ROYAL SOCIETY of LONDON / and the ROYAL ACADEMY of PARIS / By Iohn Senex / Sold by I. Senex at the Globe / against St Dunstons Church in / Fleet Street / London 1715, the twelve hand-coloured engraved gores applied to a papier mache sphere with brass hour ring and pointed screwed on to the graduated brass meridian ring, and horizontal ring printed with zodiac, calendar scales and compass directions, mounted on oak and ebonised fruitwood stand with turned legs on bun feet and a circular platform base, platform base to terrestrial globe with manuscript paper label reading *** 1746 / to J H Ward 1820 by Ed H
overall 36cm. high, 34cm. wide; 1ft. 2in., 1ft. 1 ½in.
Condition Report:
Well-preserved pieces in very good restored condition. The paper of the maps with occasional small losses and warps, but generally smooth and with clear detail. Signs of restoration and possible replacement to the paper on the meridian rings, notably to February of the terrestrial example, where there is also an areas of discoloration. This example also has a fine crack of around 2cm running perpendicular from the inner rim. The metalwork is all in sound condition, but with an accumulation of dirt and tarnish so would benefit from a gentle clean, The wooden stands with signs of use and wear throughout, including chips to the rims. Remarkable preserved condition with extraordinary provenance.
Catalogue Note:
With every detail of the earth’s geography instantly accessible to us today, we can overlook the centuries of careful, accumulated research that have brought us to this height of extensive knowledge. The surviving globes of previous eras can give us an absorbing snapshot of our understanding of the earth at a point when this was constantly evolving. Combining the utility of a scientific instrument with decorative status of fine furniture, globes had a clear appeal to scholars and gentlemen in particular: appropriately, these globes belonged to a President of Harvard who fostered learning in one of the primary educational hubs of the United States for a tenure of twenty-eight years.
The globe in eighteenth-century Britain
The antecedents to the printed globe of the eighteenth century stretch back to antiquity, particularly after Claudius Ptolemy systematised the measurement of coordinates and the celestial constellations in the second century AD. The Renaissance saw the rise of the terrestrial globe as a pendant to a celestial globe, and both types are pictured in Holbein’s 1533 double portrait The Ambassadors. The Age of Exploration saw great swathes of the earth mapped and understood for the first time, leading to a surge in the production and demand for globes that was supported by the now well-established printing industry. While globes had previously been most commonly used as diplomatic gifts or in universities, their greater proliferation in this period meant that they also became prestigious objects in the libraries of merchants and gentlemen keen to develop and display their erudition. While globe production had previously tended to be localised within Continental European centres like Nuremberg, domestic production in England began to develop during the eighteenth century through the work of cartographers like John Senex, Charles Price, Richard Cushee and George Adams.
The globes of John Senex
John Senex (1648-1740) was a prominent cartographer and printer across various media, contributing significantly to the field in numerous ways. In the field of flat printed maps, his highly successful English Atlas (1714) remained in print for around 50 years, and he was also well-known for issuing a revised version of Ogilby’s Britannia (1675) with the road maps updated to reflect the 1710s. His globes were recognised as being of the highest quality and accuracy: his were the first globes to use the Bayer notation to identify stars, and he was one of the earlier adopters of arrows to denote the direction of trade winds on his terrestrial globes. He first became a freeman of the Stationer’s Company in 1705-06, and after a series of successful business partnerships with Charles Price and John Maxwell, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1728. Even after his death, the copper plates for his globes continued to be traded for use in print for decades, first by his widow, then by James Ferguson until 1757, then by Benjamin Martin. With some updates, his maps were still forming the basis for globes made by Martin and several others as late as the 1790s, demonstrating the prestige of the Senex name.
Very few Senex globes appear on the market, with most globes dating to the earlier nineteenth century, and those dating from Senex’s earlier career in the 1710s tending to be rarer than his later ones. Most comparable examples are in public collections, often of universities and places of learning. The...
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