Emmoser, Celestial globe with clockwork

The Celestial Globe is a three-dimensional map of the stars. Inside is a mechanical device; for the sixteenth century is absolutely mind blowing. It was the work of the clock maker Gerhard Emmoser for the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Rudolf had an interest both in art and in the sciences and even the pseudosciences. There are traces of astrology in the astronomy of the period. The globe itself is engraved with constellations copied from a globe by Gerard Mercator. There are extra constellations, and they both turn out to be unclothed ladies, probably made specifically to please the emperor. It moves to show you the position of the stars overhead on the day that you need. A calendar revolves, hidden in the horizon line. A lovely little sun rides along and gives you the position of the sun in the zodiac for each day of the year. The disc tells you the time of day. You could also simply turn the thing yourself and find out an individual star at a given time. This is clearly made for the delectation of the emperor, so that he could show he knew about these things. Pegasus’s relation to astronomy comes through a very complicated history of Pegasus and the Muses from antiquity. Rudolf would have understood this trope; I think a very beautiful and poetic way of expressing comes through a very complicated history the science of astronomy rests on the wings of geometry and arithmetic. This colored the rest of what I did in the world of art history in a way that I can’t say that any other object in the collection has. As a piece of purely decorative art, it holds its own with the best. It says so much about mythology and science and history and technology. There it is, all in one object.