This armillary planetarium is constructed from wood, covered by engraved paper. A brass Sun is in the centre, surrounded by representations of 10 planets, which are discs of card with engraved paper pasted to them, supported on metal brackets. They include minor planets, and consist of Venus, Earth, Mars, Vesta, Juno, Ceres, Pallas, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, although the discs for Earth and Venus. There is a geared system to represent the motions of the Earth. The planetarium is surrounded by a celestial sphere, the main axis being the eliptic, and the whole is supported by a turned wooden base. There is an inscription, "Monté par l’Auteur".

The dating is given as the period between the discovery of Vesta in 1807 and the discovery of Nepture in 1846.