Globe sundial, 17th century
MediumMarble
(H x W x D)34 × 13,5 × 13,5 cm
Status
on display, room 004AccessionAcquired 1927 from the Kunstgewerbemuseum
ProvenanceAcquisition 1909
Inventory numberP 18579
Contact
sammlung@kunstpalast.de
About the workThe production of spherical cartographic models of the world – globes – began in the fifteenth century. From the sixteenth century onwards, as the Netherlands, France and later England rose to become international maritime and trading powers, demand began to increase. Wealthy merchants and captains’ families could use globes to trace the routes of seafarers. Small specimens such as this one also served as expressions of erudition as well as symbols of everything earthly and therefore of ephemerality.
Acquisition 1909