Highlights
Grand orrery
- Artist
- George Adams
- Locality
- London
- Date
- between 1752 and 1757
- Material
- Wood, partly polychromed, brass, bronze, gilded, iron
- Dimensions
- H. 92 cm
- Location
- Gallery 46
- Inventory Number
- R 3815.1
- Acquisition
- Assigned from the Royal Collections of the House of Wittelsbach
- Epoch
- Baroque and Rococo
- Categories
- Clocks and Scientific Instruments
Description
This is the largest orrery to enter into serial production in the 18th century and is the only one of its kind in a German museum. It illustrates the course of the then known planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn around the Sun. Earth, Jupiter and Saturn are also accompanied by their moons. The planets move on individual rotating discs on which the orbital periods are also indicated. The orrery was driven by clockwork, but could also be sped up with a crank. The Elector Palatine Karl Theodor acquired the precious instrument for the court library of his the newly built Mannheim Palace.
You can also find this object in the online collection
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