Brass armillary sphere on a mahogany stand, from the Percival Griffiths collection. English, ca. 1750.

Carved mahogany stand, fitted with engraved brass sphere. A fluted columnar shape shaft with spirally fluted knop, supported by three tripod feet, and carved on the knees with acanthus foliage in relief and terminating in elongated claw feet. These are sustained by means of four branching arms decorated on the convex outer side with relief carving. A flat circular mahogany rim bound on the upper side has brass plating engraved within linked oral compartments with the creatures and symbols, and with the signs, of the Zodiac. Closely fitting within the zodiacal rim, and inset in a brass bound socket in the top of the shaft, pivots a vertically set circular brass band engraved Meridian, within which rotates an appropriately tilted spherical framework consisting of a knopped axis and of four symmetrical bars, vertical to the sphere, crossed by five flat brass bands horizontal to the sphere and engraved respectively: Arctic Circle; Tropic of Cancer; Equator; Tropic of Capricorn, and Antarctic Circle, the second, third and fourth being intersected at an acute angle by a broad brass band engraved Ecliptic.

Purchased with Art Fund support

Museum numbers W.34-1939 to W.37-1938, a centre table, tripod table, armillary sphere and gate-leg table, were bought for the Museum by the National Art Collections Fund from the estate of Percival Griffiths (1861-1937). The choice was left to the Museum. A mirror, W.39-1938 was also given by his widow, Mrs Percival Griffiths, in his memory. Percival Griffiths, who lived at Sandridgebury, Hertfordshire, formed a collection of English furniture dating from the late 17th and early 18th century under the guidance of R.W. Symonds, the furniture historian and prolific writer on English furniture.

The Symonds papers are held by Winterthur Museum in the USA. With the Symonds papers is an album of photographs labelled ‘Furniture Sandridgebury No 1’. Symonds wrote a ‘Portrait of a Collector’ about Percival Griffiths, in Country Life, June 13, 1952. R W Symonds’ book ‘English Furniture from Charles II to George II’ (1929) is illustrated with items from the Sandridgebury collection. In the foreword Griffiths writes of his experience and philosophy as a collector. See also 'Intuitively Collected', by Simon Houfe, Country Life 27 December 1990.

The Sphere was not included in the photographic inventory of Griffiths' collection in 1930 so may have been acquired after that date. Its earlier provenance is unknown.

The sphere was on Loan at Kenwood House for a short period where it was displayed in the Library.
On Loan to an exhibition in Ontario in 1984.(Unspecified)

Armillary spheres are skeleton globes representing the sky around the Earth. They consist of adjustable metal rings that stand for the Equator, tropics, Arctic and Antarctic circles and other features, within a horizontal ring representing the horizon. Armillary spheres were used to understand and track the movements of the planets and stars. They were a variant of solid wood celestial globes (globes of the sky), which have adjustable metal rings, and of astrolabes, which were used to represent the orbits of heavenly bodies. In England celestial globes were already known in the Middle Ages and were used in monastery schools. Armillary spheres were used in the libraries of large houses alongside wooden globes, and that is where this one is likely to have stood.They often had strong tripod feet, as in this example, to balance the heavy weight.
This example was probably made as a decorative item of furniture for a Library as the engraved brass circles have no practical service for scientific purposes.

W.36-1938