Spheres : The Art Of The Celestial Mechanic

Exhibition at Galerie Kugel, Paris, 18 September-23 November 2002

This exhibition catalogue presents more than fifty globes and spheres made of precious materials: silver, rock crystal, ivory or gilt bronze. At the crossroads of luxury and science, these precious objects, made for princes or patrons, were designed by the greatest mathematicians, clockmakers and manufacturers of scientific instruments in France, Italy, Germany and Flanders.

Dating from Roman times to the beginning of the 19th century, but mainly focusing on the 16th and 17th centuries, each of the pieces represents for its time the most elaborate achievement in the understanding and demonstration of the universe.