RARE DUTCH TERRESTRIAL TABLE GLOBE AND A DUTCH CELESTIAL TABLE GLOBE BY GERARD VALK (1652-1726) AND LEONARD VALK (1645-1746), AMSTERDAM, FIRST HALF 18TH CENTURY

Each 15-inch globe with an engraved brass meridian ring, on conforming oak and turned ebonized beechwood stands with papered horizon rings.

Doyle, New York, May 16, 2001, lot 338;
Jonathan Trace, New York.

Antiques and The Arts Weekly, May 4, 2001, pg. 151.

Gallery inspection recommended. Printed surface laid on papier-mâché and tired and dirty, consistent with age and use. Old repairs, varnished and with losses to this surface. Old fractures, although generally stable. Some later papered additions. And dates on each amended. Re-touching and rubbing to each globe. The celestial globe is very sticky. Bases with evidence of worm and old, marks chips and scratches. Brass meridian rings lacking pointer and hour.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Interestingly there is a pair of comparable globes in the Collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England amongst a small group by the Valks. These feature similar stands and also the number '50' pasted over the date 1750. The Greenwich globes (accession numbers GLB0102 and GLB0103) are illustrated and discussed, Elly Dekker, Globes at Greenwich, Oxford, 1999, pp. 512-515,

The father and son partnership of Gerard and Leonard Valk was a successful one. The business was established by Gerard in 1687 and grew to an extent that he was able to acquire premises in 1700 on the Dam Square in Amsterdam. Gerard started as an engraver and art dealer and in 1701 he requested and received from the states of Holland and West Friesland a charter for the making of globes. His skill as a globe maker came from the instruction of Pieter Maasz Smit (fl. 1680-1700) an expert in mathematics and navigation and astronomer Lotharius Zumbach de Coesfelt (1661-1727) whose name features on a dedication label on the Celestial Globe. Gerard was joined by his son, Leonard in or around 1711, and whom that year had been admitted to the Guild of Booksellers in Amsterdam. Their firm produced globes in several sizes, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 15 inches of diameter of which the offered globes are an example.