"Uranographia syderum et stellarum in singulis syderibus conspicuarum exhibens delineationem accuratissimam, qua ex observationibus astronomi plane singularis Iohannis Hevelii usque ad finem anni MDCC emendata est. Nova praeterea methodo additus est ex mente Lotharii Zumbach M.D. et Mathem. Claris. horizon ad meridianum Amstelaedamensem accurate per annes plures quam ducentes lunae syzygias indicans, praeter annes communes et bissextiles [...]".

2 sets of 18 engr. half gores on a sphere of papier-mâché, diam. 46 cm, with a plaster coating, clipped at an ecliptic latitude of 70°, and 2 polar calottes, original hand-colouring with "aged patina" and varnished (with an old dent to the globe and some minor damage to the horizon ring, with some sm. loss, little cracking and unevenness or bubbling to the ring).

Mounted in a fully engraved and graduated brass meridian ring with on top of the globe an unusual 2-pointer brass hour ring. The ebony stand supports the wooden horizon ring covered with printed paper figuring a zodiacal grid and a calendar. Ebony stand, overall height 71 cm, consisting out of 4 fluted table legs in rosewood veneer, a circular base plate in rosewood (palissander) with a magnificent ebonised pearwood marquetry inlaid in a pleasing floral design and a central pillar.

Very rare 1st state of the early 18th-c. celestial table globe produced by Gerard and Leonard Valk, the only significant publishers of globes in the Netherlands at that time enjoying an almost total monopoly in the first half of the 1700s. The celestial constellations, finely engr. with eye-catching detail and some faint gold embossing to the stars, are based closely on the celestial atlas "Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia", published in 1687 by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687). Besides the 48 ancient constellations listed by Ptolemy in his Almagest in the 2nd century, the globe includes the 12 constellations in the southern sky first depicted by Petrus Plancius (1597) and the constellations introduced by Johannes Hevelius after 1687. The horizon at the meridian of Amsterdam is added according to the work by Lotharius Zumbach de Coesfelt (1661-1727), an astronomy lecturer at Leiden University. The small, oval imprint cartouche was printed on a separate piece of paper and the globe was dedicated to J. Trip who was director of the Dutch East India Company. Rare globe on an exceptional and unique, very decorative stand of great luxury.
Ref. Van der Krogt, P. - Old globes in the Netherlands, p. 250, Val 74. - van der Krogt, P. Globi Neerlandici, pp. 299-336 and pp. 546-70. - Dekker, pp. 514-515.