The earth caged in rings while the planets ride around it

Plate 2 shows the Ptolemaic universe as a solid object seen in perspective: the earth, mapped with Africa, Asia and the Indian sea, hangs at the centre of a cage of rings. The planetary orbits are drawn as fine hoops carrying small gold discs for Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, and a broad zodiac band cuts across them. The arctic and antarctic circles, the tropics and the equinoctial are lettered along their rings. Groups of astronomers sit at the lower corners among globes and open books, and winged figures with putti hold the sea-green title banners. This copy is lightly coloured, its sky left pale cream, and carries the Amsterdam imprint of Gerard Valk and Pieter Schenk.

Andreas Cellarius (c. 1596–1665) was a German-born Dutch cartographer and schoolmaster who spent most of his working life as rector of the Latin school in Hoorn. In 1660 the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius issued his Harmonia Macrocosmica, a folio atlas of twenty-nine engraved plates that set the competing world systems of Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho Brahe beside charts of the constellations and the motions of the planets. It was the last great decorative celestial atlas of the Dutch golden age, and its hand-coloured plates — dense with putti, banners and allegorical figures — were reissued by Gerard Valk and Pieter Schenk in 1708. Copies are held by the Library of Congress, the Universiteitsbibliotheek Amsterdam and the Royal Astronomical Society.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.