Globe terrestre

Paris : Jean Louis Jacques Baradelle, le Jeune, circa 1780. Terrestrial globe, 240 mm in diameter; engraved gores with original hand-colouring over papier-mâché base, old stains and discolouration, repaired tears to areas of the Pacific; graduated equator, tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, ecliptic and Premiere Meridian fixe de l’isle de fer (the prime meridian on the island of El Hierro which Louis XIII decreed in 1634); numerous dated tracks of historical and contemporary explorers including Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1766 – 1769); the first voyage of Captain James Cook (1768 – 1771); the second voyage of Captain James Cook (1772 – 1775); Tobias Furneaux, commander of the Adventure on that voyage (which separated from Cook at certain points); the sub-Antarctic islands discovered by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec (1772); the third voyage of Captains James Cook, Gore and Clarke [Clerke] (1775 – 1779); other historical details such as the route from Acapulco, New Spain (California) to the Philippines, the death of Cook on Owyhee (Hawaii), the Hawaii Islands mistakenly described as being seen by Mendana in 1568 the discoveries of the Dutch and English on the west and east coastlines of Terres Australis etc.; papier-mâché meridian ring with printed declination and elevation (some restoration), edges painted red, pins to north and south poles (perhaps missing a finial), imprint to meridian A Paris chez Jacq. Baradelle, quai de l’Horloge du Palais à l’Enseigne de l’Observatoire, engraved calendrical papier-mâché horizon ring with zodiac, edges painted red, supported on four papier-mâché quadrant arcs with the printed names of towns and their longitude and latitudes, turned wooden base; total dimensions 530 mm high / 355 mm wide; a very good example with a few old signs of restoration, with a warm patina, of this rare terrestrial globe.

A very rare French table globe from the late eighteenth century, rich in geographical detail that includes the Pacific voyages and discoveries of French and English explorers.

Created during the reign of Louis XVI, this globe is a tremendously evocative artefact from the Age of Enlightenment. It shows the discoveries made in the Pacific and South Seas during the 1760s and 1770s, just prior to the grands voyages of La Perouse, Baudin, Freycinet and Duperrey.

The Bibliotheque nationale de France documents Jacques Nicolas Baradelle (1700-1779) as being established in 1740 on the Quai de l’Horloge du Palais, where his firm manufactured navigation instruments, sundials, and astronomical and geographical spheres. This was an area with a concentration of leading French mathematical instrument makers of the period, including Bion, Maulevaut, Lordelle, Langlois, Le Maire, Butterfield, Canivet, and Lennel.

However, in spite of the fact that the imprint on this globe bears his name and his Quai d’Horloge du Palais address, we have attributed the globe not to the illustrious scientific instrument maker Jacques Nicolas Baradelle himself – for the date of manufacture would make this highly improbable, if not impossible – but to his third son, Jean Louis Jacques Baradelle, le Jeune (1752-1794), to whom in 1778 Baradelle senior had sold the greater part of his stock, allowing him to retire to the rue St. Anne. (See entry on Jacques Nicolas Baradelle in Dictionary of precision Instrument-makers and related craftsmen, Denis Beaudouin, Paolo Brenni & Anthony Turner, Paris Sciences & Lettres).

Like his father, the young Jean Louis Jacques Baradelle was a maker of scientific instruments and globes. After quitting his father’s longstanding Quai d’Horloge du Palais premises, he moved several times to addresses nearby on the Right Bank, including Quai de la Messagerie, rue du Coq St Honoré, rue Vivienne, and Croix des Petits Champs Paris (ibid., entry on Jean Louis Jacques Baradelle, le Jeune).

We have not been able to trace another example of the present globe in any collection.

Provenance:

Prunier, Louviers, 25 September 2019, lot 9

Pingel Rare Books, Paris