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John Senex
"Terrestrial Globe" and "Celestial Globe"
London, ca. 1720
Slaughter 5000

With their fabulous clawfoot bases, these globes seem ready to march off! As it would have been in the 17th and 18th centuries, the terrestrial globe is paired with a celestial globe.

Celestial globes were more decorative than practical. Sometimes the constellations were drawn as if viewed from the heavens, or God's perspective, and sometimes from the earthly perspective.

Recently there has been some controversy over the supposedly reversed constellations on the newly restored ceiling at Grand Central terminal, but they just reflect one of the two perspectives.