Bronze Armillary Sphere

Renaissance scientists liked to have their portrait painted with one hand on a Ptolemaic or Copernican armillary sphere, the epitome of wisdom and knowledge. The difference between the two world systems was that one used the Earth as the center of the Universe, while the other used the Sun. At that time people were burned at the stake for professing opinions about the universe. Basically a model of the universe as it was then known, the sphere is composed of connected rings linking the poles and representing the equator and the ecliptic. Intricately assembled from bronze and wood parts, the armillary sphere is a classical desk ornament for the broad and cultured of mind. GL017

H: 11", W: 7".