Celestial Globe with Clockwork in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Celestial globe with clockwork
1579


Object Details

Title: Celestial globe with clockwork

Maker: Gerhard Emmoser (German, active 1556–84)

Date: 1579

Culture: Austrian, Vienna

Medium: Partially gilded silver, gilded brass (case); brass, steel (movement)

Dimensions: Overall: 10 3/4 × 8 × 7 1/2 in. (27.3 × 20.3 × 19.1 cm); Diameter of globe: 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Silver In Combination

Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Accession Number: 17.190.636


Emmoser, who served three emperors, created this globe for Rudolf II. The emperor displayed the scientific apparatus, which once rotated to chart the constellations, in his Kunstkammer. The stand ring’s naturalistic rock formations may refer to Greek myth, which held that the spring of inspiration flowed wherever the winged Pegasus’s hooves struck. Astronomy rested on knowledge of arithmetic and geometry, fields then considered "the wings of the human mind." This unprecedented fusion of elegant goldsmith work and extraordinarily complex mechanical technology reflects the hand of a great master.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/193606