PTOLEMAIC GILT BRONZE ARMILLARY SPHERE WITH EARLY, POSSIBLY 16TH CENTURY, ENGRAVED GLOBE

16 inch tall, 9 1/2 inch diameter gilt bronze armillary sphere on turned wood stand, ca 1780. Horizon ring engraved with the names and signs of the zodiac in Latin, ecliptic ring divided into 12 equal parts with the signs of the Zodiac named in Latin alongside the figurative representation of each constellation and divided every 1 degree. Inside the primary sphere are two movable systems of rings fixed perpendicular to each other, representing the orbits of the Sun and the Moon. At center of sphere is a finely engraved 1 1/2 inch early bronze globe, depicting Antarctica as "NOVA GUINEA" and with a very elongated and narrow North American continent. 

A lovely Ptolemaic armillary sphere, complete with central finely engraved early globe of the Earth, and eight point sun & crescent moon, each rotating around the Earth on their own rings. The central early terrestrial globe is particularly fine.