BLAEU, Willem Janszoon

AN EXCEPTIONAL AND VERY RARE PAIR OF CELESTIAL AND TERRESTIAL GLOBES

Amsterdam, dated 1602, but published after 1621.

A very rare set of globes, 9inch / 23cm, with an overall height of 38 cm, Amsterdam, dated 1602, but published after 1621. In their original stands with circular wooden horizon rings, covered with printed paper, supported by four legs and brass meridian rings supported by a single column.

The diameter of the terrestrial and celestial globe is 9 inch (23 centimeters) and each globe made up of a set of 12 engraved gores and Arctic ice caps, printed on paper and mounted on a sphere of papier maché. Each sphere is mounted in a graduated brass meridian ring with the production number stamped at the back of the ring. The hour circles are replaced.

AN EXCEPTIONAL AND VERY RARE PAIR OF CELESTIAL AND TERRESTIAL GLOBES, inch / 23cm, with an overall height of 38 cm, Amsterdam, dated 1602, but published after 1621. In their original stands with circular wooden horizon rings, covered with printed paper, supported by four legs and brass meridian rings supported by a single column.

The diameter of the terrestrial and celestial globe is 9 inch (23 centimeters) and each globe made up of a set of 12 engraved gores and Arctic ice caps, printed on paper and mounted on a sphere of papier maché. Each sphere is mounted in a graduated brass meridian ring with the production number stamped at the back of the ring. The hour circles are replaced.

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Both globes mounted on four legged ebonized oak Dutch stands, which support the horizon ring. The legs are connected by two crossbeams which support a circular base plate with a central support for the meridian ring. The horizon rings are covered with printed paper.

With usual defects : paper equinoctial tables present gaps that are filled and restored ; small splits along gores; several partially deleted entries; on the globe, the date 1602 and the text of the cartouche in America, are illegible ; small scattered spots but in general in good condition for such an early globe pair of which presently only 19 pair are recorded.

These 9-inch globes are among the rarest, since very few copies of them are known to exist, in comparison with the smaller or larger globes of Blaeu (4, 6, 13.5, and 26 inches).

Blaeu's terrestrial globes were highly valued and were much in demand, because of the care with which they had been prepared, because of the efforts to give the latest information on discoveries, and because of the loxodromic lines which made them of special value to navigators.

His celestial globes were appreciated for the fact that he had been the pupil of Tycho Brahe, who was himself known to be the greatest astronomer of his time (Stevenson).

DIFFERENT STATES OF THE 9-INCH GLOBES

According to Peter van der Krogt in ‘Globi Neerlandici: the Production of Globes in the Low Countries’, the following states are known.

Terrestrial globes

There is no known copy of the first state of 1602. The second state was published around 1618-1621 and again there are no known examples.

All the states are dated 1602 but the second state must have been published after 1618, since it includes the discoveries of Schouten and Le Maire (1615-1617) but not the name “Blaeu”.

This example of a 9-inch terrestrial globe is a third and last state according to Peter van der Krogt. Elly Dekker in her Globes at Greenwich: a Catalogue of the Globes and Armillary Spheres in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich of 1999 makes no distinction between the different states.

The third state can be divided into states 3a and 3b. All globes have a different production number, some of which are illegible today. This terrestrial 9-inch globe is marked with ‘fabr. nr. 4’.

Celestial globes

There are two known states. There is only a catalogue record of the first state of 1602, no specimen of which is presently known. The second state was presumably published after 1621. All 30 known celestial globes are in a second state, as is this one, which is marked with ‘fabr. no. 12’.

KNOWN EXAMPLES

This set of terrestrial and celestial globes are comparable to the pairs of globes in the collections of the following museums, although the production number is illegible on some globes (indicated below with a dash).

1. Amsterdam, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, inv. no. B 25, Terr.: 3b (‘fabr. no. 7’), Cel.: 2 (‘fabr. no. 4’)

2. Rotterdam, Maritiem Museum, inv. nos. M475 and M473, Terr.: 3b (‘fabr. no. -’) Cel.: (‘fabr. no. 4’)

3. Greenwich, National Maritime Museum, inv. no. GLB0083, Terr.: 3b (‘fabr. no. 23’) Cel.: 2 (‘ fabr. no. -’) Idem, inv. nos. GLB0152 and GLB0151, (‘fabr. no. 1’) Terr. 3b (‘fabr. no. 1’) Cel.: 2 (‘fabr. no. 2’)

4. Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I, inv. no. IV 10189, Terr.: 3b (‘fabr. no. -’) Cel.: 2 (‘fabr. no. XXIII’)

5. Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, inv. no. E I 34 (formerly Halle, Hematmuseum), Terr.: 3b (‘fabr. no.-’) Cel.: -

Since 1993

Since the publication of van der Krogts book only two pair of the 9 inch globes surfaced.

6. A pair was sold at a Christie’s Sale (London, 10 July 2002, Lot 11 price realized £248,650 ($385,408), example with usual restorations.

7. This pair sold at P.Bergé, Paris, sale 8 June, 2016, Lot 205.

Price on request

OFFERED BY Paulus Swaen

Pieter Lastmankade 2, 1075 KJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Tel. +31 20 2255198