Armillary sphere. Wooden single stem stand, base painted black. Wooden rings painted red and partly covered with yellow paper. Zodiac divisions and signs engraved on ecliptic ring. Revolving Earth with meridian ring and moon represented by a disc, attached to brass arm.
The primary sphere consists of two wooden circles. Inside the primary sphere, there is a planetary system consisting of six wooden rings around a small gilt sphere for the Sun. The rings are movable and connected to a central axis which runs from the North to the South ecliptic pole; they represent 'MERCURE', 'VENUS', 'LA TERRE' (a partial ring with the Earth-Moon system on a separate arm), 'MARS', 'JUPITER' and 'SATURNE', from the centre to the edge of the instrument. On each of the planetary rings, information is provided about the inclination of the orbital planes, the revolution periods, the average distance to the Sun, and the excentricity of the orbits of each planet. The Earth-Moon system has a wheel which can be connected by strings to a wheel attached to the central ecliptic axis. The Earth-Moon system consists of a small terrestrial globe mounted in a meridian ring which, in turn, is attached to the polar axis. At the North Pole, an arm with a disc for the Moon is attached. The terrestrial globe is identical to the one in AST0639 and may well have been made by the same firm. The terrestrial sphere has tiny paper gores. The meridians, the polar circles, the tropics, and the equator are all shown. Only the main continents are outlined and labelled 'AMERIQUE', 'AFRIQUE', 'ASIE' and 'EUROPE'. Australia is also completely drawn and Tasmania is depicted as an island. The appearance of Tasmania as an island indicates a date in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. For further information about the cartography and construction of this armillary sphere please refer to the related publication, Globes at Greenwich.