Andreas Cellarius

A 17th century celestial chart showing the Ptolemaic planetary orbits.

• Andreas Cellarius (Dutch).
• Hypothesis Ptolemaica sive communis, planetarum motus per eccentricos, et epicyclos demostrans.
• Amsterdam: Schenk & Valk, 1708.
• Original color with additions, including gold highlights.
• Unframed.

A chart illustrating the apparent planetary motions from Earth in a geocentric Solar System.

This chart was engraved by Jan van Loon and published in the "Atlas Coelestis; seu Harmonia Macrocosmica," the only celestial atlas to be produced in the Netherlands before the nineteenth century. It was a compilation of maps of the Ptolemaic universe and the more modern theories of Copernicus and Brahe, and remains the finest and most highly decorative celestial atlas ever produced. It was originally published by Jan Jansson in 1660; this chart comes from Schenk & Valk's reissue.