World--Demongenet, François.

In the third quarter of the sixteenth century interest in the construction and possession of globes prompted increased activity and nowhere more so than in Italy (where the art of map engraving was at its finest). A pair of engraved terrestrial and celestial gores published by the French cartographer François Demongenet in 1560 were widely spread throughout Europe and these were to serve as models for engravers of metal globes, who would copy them with varying degrees of faithfulness.

A number of sets of engraved gores bearing his name are described by Shirley. Both gores in this lot bear a dedication to Claude de la Baume, Archbishop of Besançon, while Demongenet's imprint on the terrestrial gores ends '... V. .E. .V.', with Japan spelled 'Sipange'; the celestial gores bear a Venetian privilege, while the engraved plate with the horizon rings for the stand bears the imprint 'Luca Bertelli f.'

The present set does not correspond to the five mentioned by Shirley, but in 2001 in his Corrigenda and Addenda to the new edition of Mapping of the World he mentions a sixth example (as this one) in the Nicolai collection, Stuttgart.

The horizon rings bear the imprint of the engraver Enea Vico a well-known medal engraver.