3.5-inch terrestrial globe
Date: 1552
Inventory Number: 1997-1-2060b
Classification: Globe
Subject:
Maker: François DeMongenet (died 1592)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
16 x 8.5 x 8.5 cm (6 5/16 x 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 in.)
globe diam: 8.5 cm (3 3/8 in.)
Bibliography:
Globes at Greenwich: A Catalogue of the Globes and Armillary Spheres in the National Maritime Museum
Lost in Learning: The Art of Discovery
Description:
The globe is fixed on a black wood stand and possesses no other accessories, like a brass meridian or hour circle, usually found on larger globes. It is made of twelve gores which come from a woodcut. Some characteristics of the cartography are: The ghosts islands below Java are identified as "inexploratae magn"; the tropics are identified as "Tropicus aestivus" and "Tropicus hybernus"; Japan was left unnamed.
Two cartouches were also engraved: one for the dedicacy, and one for the signature.
Two cartouches were also engraved: one for the dedicacy, and one for the signature.
In Collection(s)
Signedcartouche: FACIEBAT FRANCISCUS DEMONGENET anno 1552
Inscribedcartouche: EXIMIO VIRO D : I : P: A MONTE MAIORE
FunctionTeaching astronomy.
Historical AttributesThe general cartography started what is often called the DeMongenet tradition, which lasted until the early seventeenth century.
Curatorial RemarksThe gores are almost certainly older than the wood globe and its black stand. It is probable that at a later date (perhaps during the nineteenth century?) the gores were cut out of a book and assembled in their present form.
Published ReferencesEva Koleva Timothy, Lost in Learning: The Art of Discovery (Newburyport, MA: Athenaeum Publishing, 2010).
