SOLD - GEOCENTRIC ARMILLARY SPHERE

also called Ptolemaic signed: G. B. Paravia e comp. Italy, 19th century cm 48 x 32.5 x 32.5 Linked to the most ancestral vision of the universe that thought the earth was at the center of everything. This type of Armillary Sphere (or spherical astrolabe) was invented by Eratosthenes in 225 B.C. It included a structure with wooden or metal rings (armillae) placed in a horizontal position to represent from north to south: the Arctic Circle, the Tropic of Cancer, the equinoctial line or Equator, the Tropic of Capricorn and finally the Antarctic Circle. Embedded in the large vertical armilla of the colure of the equinoxes, and enclosed by the Ecliptic (the ideal circular trajectory described by the sun on the celestial sphere in a year) in this case represented by a slightly transversal band richly graduated and decorated with the name of the months and the corresponding zodiac symbols. At the center of the structure the earth are represented as a spherical planet carrying the mapping, updated according to the knowledge of the period; and around it, connected to a thin metal band, rotate the Sun and the Moon, represented as two circles of different diameters. This spherical structure is enclosed in the circle of the meridian (the outermost vertical armilla) and locked in the circle of the horizon (the largest horizontal armilla) which is fixed, by means of four semi-circular band uprights bearing names and technical data of numerous cities of the World to the turned and ebonized base. The work, like any other of our objects, will be sold accompanied by certificates of authenticity and lawful provenance. We personally handle and organize the packaging and shipping of artwork with insurance worldwide