Lot #: 97771
Planisphaerium Coeleste |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Selling price: $1850
Sold in 2017 |
Views: 213
|
Description
An exceptionally decorative, oversized, very rare celestial chart, produced by Frederik de Wit around 1680, and depicts the two hemispheres surrounded by six supplementary diagrams.
They illustrate the Copernican hypothesis, the Ptolemaic hypothesis, the Tycho Brahe hypothesis, the phases of the moon relative to the Sun, the rotational pattern of the day, and the rotation pattern of the Moon around the Earth. The map is further embellished by dark storm clouds and an elaborate title banner.
Each major hemisphere is centered on the elliptic pole and rendered on a polar stereographic projection with an external orientation. The constellations are in pictorial form with emphasis to the constellations associated with the Zodiac.
Important stars and other astronomical and astrological features are delineated. The content and deportment of the constellations is clearly derived from the celestial hemispheres appearing as supplementary material on Joan Blaeu's remarkable 1658 wall map of the world (Shirley 371).
De Wit published this as a separate issue: it was not officially part of any atlas, hence its extreme rarity. Occasionally it appeared into Allard's 1705 'Atlas Major', and Sanson's 'Atlas Nouveau'.
This map may have been issued in conjunction with Pierre Mortier. Note that the OCLC identifies only 3 institutional examples and, there appears to be no identifiable sales record on the private market in recent years. Just one uncolored example can be found on the market.
They illustrate the Copernican hypothesis, the Ptolemaic hypothesis, the Tycho Brahe hypothesis, the phases of the moon relative to the Sun, the rotational pattern of the day, and the rotation pattern of the Moon around the Earth. The map is further embellished by dark storm clouds and an elaborate title banner.
Each major hemisphere is centered on the elliptic pole and rendered on a polar stereographic projection with an external orientation. The constellations are in pictorial form with emphasis to the constellations associated with the Zodiac.
Important stars and other astronomical and astrological features are delineated. The content and deportment of the constellations is clearly derived from the celestial hemispheres appearing as supplementary material on Joan Blaeu's remarkable 1658 wall map of the world (Shirley 371).
De Wit published this as a separate issue: it was not officially part of any atlas, hence its extreme rarity. Occasionally it appeared into Allard's 1705 'Atlas Major', and Sanson's 'Atlas Nouveau'.
This map may have been issued in conjunction with Pierre Mortier. Note that the OCLC identifies only 3 institutional examples and, there appears to be no identifiable sales record on the private market in recent years. Just one uncolored example can be found on the market.