Scherer's 1700 Globe
The gores making up this small globe are to be found in Heinrich Scherer's eight-volume atlas of 1703. The globe depicts a major cartographic error- California was depicted as an island. It also illustrates the uncharted regions of Australia and New Zealand, and a misplaced Tierra del Fuego. The globe is 10.50 cms in diameter and available with either a circular hand turned reclaimed pine stand with a height of 20 cms, or a triangular reclaimed mahogany stand with 'faux' ivory feet with a height of 23.5 cm high.
Scherer's globe on circular stand. Ref GT 1700 T £185.00 (+ Vat for UK and EC*)
Scherer's globe on triangular stand. Ref GT 1700 C £230.00 (+ Vat for UK and EC*)Packing and delivery prices vary depending where on this globe you presently live. If you are interested in any of our globes on our web site, please email us the reference number(s) and state which country you live in and if you require a shipping quote.
* This price is for globes purchased within the UK and European Community.
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HEINRICH SCHERER & HIS WORK.
Heinrich Scherer (1628-1704) taught as Professor of Hebrew, Mathematics and Ethics at the University of Dillingen until about 1680. Thereafter he obtained important positions as Official Tutor to the Royal Princes of Mantua and Bavaria. It was during his time in Munich as Tutor to the Princely house of Bavaria that his lifetime's work as a cartographer received acclaim and recognition. Scherer's World Atlas, the Atlas Novus, first published in Munich between 1702 and 1710 and reissued in a second edition between 1730 and 1737, forms a singularly unusual, almost revolutionary work in terms of the development of European mapmaking at the beginning of the 18th Century. The Atlas comprised 7 separate volumes entitled Geographia Naturalis, Geographia Hierarchica, Geographia Politica, Tabellae Geographicae, Atlas Marianus, Critica Quadrapartita, and Geographia Artificialis. Most of the some 180 maps appear to have been prepared between 1699 and 1700 and were engraved by Leonard Hecknaeur, Joseph Montelegre or Matthus Wolfgang with each volume introduced by fine allegorical frontispieces by the same engravers.
What makes Scherer's maps so singular and unusual is their highly decorative Catholic iconography and imagery and the revolutionary thematic nature of many of the maps. Scherer himself was a Jesuit and many of the maps draw heavily from the history and development of the Jesuit order since its establishment by St.Ignatius Loyala in the early 16th Century when it was the driving force behind the European Catholic Counter Reformation. Scherer's maps vividly chart the revival and spread of the Catholic faith in the late 16th and 17th Centuries principally through the efforts of Jesuit missionaries around the globe and most notably in North and South America, South East Asia and the Far East.
Where Scherer's maps stand out from other contemporary cartographers is in the use of this vivid Catholic imagery and decoration. This is not all together surprising as the driving force in European cartography through the 17th Century had been the Protestant Netherlands. The golden age of Dutch cartography which began in the early years of the 17th Century was characterised by increasingly decorative imagery to the maps and Atlases being produced, reaching its apogee in the splendid carte-a-figures works of Willem and Johannes Blaeu where the map borders incorporated views of cities and representations of the native inhabitants of each region shown. Dutch cartography tended to epitomise the development of trade and commerce, drawing its imagery from contemporary observations of far-flung places around the globe and from the great classical empires of Rome and Greece with their rich mythology - this was essentially a temporal vision of the World. Matters spiritu leanings barely featured in the imagery of 17th Century Dutch cartography. Scherer by contrast fills his maps with the images of vibrant religiosity, of a vital Catholic Faith of contemporary Jesuit Saints and merciful Madonnas, a World divided between Darkness and Light, between the Protestant-Heathen & the True Believer, between the Chosen Sheep and the Rejected Goats. This is not surprising given Scherer's Jesuit roots and the publication of his work in the deeply conservative Catholic Bavarian stronghold of Munich. In this imagery, Scherer took some of the first steps towards the development of what may be called thematic cartography. On many of his maps he divides the world between areas of shaded darkness and unshaded light, the latter representing the light of the Catholic faith around the globe, albeit sometimes being shown in terms of hope rather than reality. This is certainly true for example in China, an area which Scherer invariably shows as unshaded inspite of the stumbling progress and limited successes of the small Jesuit Mission established in China by Matteo Ricci in the late 16th Century.
Scherer takes thematic cartography one step further in the Geographia Politica and Geographia Naturalis. He produces maps that remove political boundaries, borders and place names, replacing them with the revolutionary concept for the period of showing the Mountains and forests in physical relief with all of the major waterways and rivers systems clearly depicted. Scherer may have drawn in part from the earlier influence of another 17th Century Jesuit writer, Athanathius Kircher who published one of the earliest thematic maps showing the ocean currents, mountain ranges and active volcanoes of the World in his Mundus Subterraneus in 1665 and from the similar late 17th Century work of the German, Eberhart Werner Happel. In this respect Scherer's Atlas forms an important milestone in the development of scientific and thematic cartography, providing a remarkable and revolutionary alternative vision of the World in showing only its major physical and topographical features.
In many other respects Scherer was more conservative, notably in terms of the cartographic content of his maps which appear to be drawn from standard contemporary sources. On all of his maps featuring North America, California is always shown as an Island, albeit on a number of slightly different contemporary models. The theory of an insular California predominated on maps of the 17th and early 18th Century and was derived from incomplete and inaccurate surveys of the American west coast and Baja Gulf undetaken by Spanish navigators at the turn of the 17th Century. An insular California first appeared in printed form on Henry Briggs' English map of North America published in Samuel Purchas' Purchas His Pilgrimes in London in 1625. 3/ Almost contemporaneously with the production of Scherer's maps, in 1701 the Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Kino travelled across Northern Baja California by land, thereby disproving the insular theory. However it took another fifty years for Kino's discoveries to receive official Spanish approbation and for this peculiar misconception to disappear from printed maps. Another feature of his depiction of North America is the mis-location of the Mississippi river and delta some 600 miles too far to the West. This misinformation was based on the latest reports of French Jesuit missionaries in North America and first recorded by French cartographer Jean Baptiste Franquelin in the 1680's. Scherer's maps are also notable the strange shape given to the Islands of Japan which bears little resemblance to any other contemporary models. The only similar precursor which may have been a model for Scherer was a peculiar small map of Japan produced by Dutchman FranÁois Caron in his description of Japan in 1661. This latter map did show the main island of Honshu and northern Island of Hokkaido joined by a narrow isthmus but with Hokkaido also forming part of the Asian mainland. On Scherer's maps the two smaller Japanese islands of Kyushu and Shikoku are well depicted, however Honshu is shown joined by a narrow isthmus at its northern point to a bulbous-shaped northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido. This is all the more peculiar because Scherer also includes the important discoveries made by the Dutch navigator Maarten Vries undertaken during an expedition to Northern Japan and the Kurile Islands in 1643 - the first accurate European surveys of this region. Vries had actually charted the southern coasts of Hokkaido (Iezo / Iedso) to the north of Honshu and recognised that it was a completely separate landmass. He also surveyed the most southerly of the Kurile islands, which he named Staten Eyland (after the Dutch Estates General or Parliament) and Compagnies Land (after the Dutch East India Company who were the backers of the expedition). Vries had actually only surveyed the western coasts of Compagnies Land, so that its eastern extent remained unknown until the French expedition of La Perouse to North East Asia in the 1790's.
Many mapmakers contemporary to Scherer believed in the possibility of Compagnies Land extending across the whole of the North Pacific to the west coast of America. Scherer however remains more cautious showing only its western coastlines. Another peculiarity of Scherer's maps is the continued credence given to the possibility of the North-east Passage via Arctic Russia to Japan and the Far East - on a number of his maps this possible route is clearly marked. The important Dutch expeditions of Willem Barentsz to the Arctic Circle and Novoya Zemla more than a century earlier, in the mid-1590's, had more or less proved beyond doubt the impossibility of finding a passable north-easterly route from Europe to the Indies. By comparison, the possibility of finding a north-west passage via Arctic Canada, Hudson's Bay is also still seriously mooted by Scherer on most of his maps - with an exit being found through the Fretum Anian (Straits of Anian) on the Pacific North-west coast. 4/ In many ways Scherer stands out as one of the founding fathers of the German cartographic Renaissance of the early 18th Century. The power bases for this revival were to be found in the South German cities of Nuremberg, Augsburg and Munich and were represented over the next thirty or forty years by such figures as Johann Baptist Homann, Matth”us Seutter and Johann Christoph Weigel. Within twenty or thirty years of Scherer's death, mapmaking in Southern Germany had entered its most prolific period since the late 15th and early 16th Century. It also heralded a significant shift away from the old-established traditional centres of mapmaking in the Low Countries and Netherlands to new, important and influential power bases elsewhere in Europe in Southern Germany, Italy and France.
The Scherer Terrestrial Globe In all 11 maps of the World appear in Scherer's Atlas Novus and only one of them is in the form of 12 globe gores or segments. The sheet of gores appears in Part V of the Atlas in the section entitled Geographia Artificialis. The gores take the form of a physical relief map of the World in twelve curved segments showing the main river systems, waterways, mountain ranges and forests. The main geographical regions, countries and important capital cities and settlements are all identified. Curiously, perhaps for the sake of clarity of detail, Scherer omits both the Straits of Anian and Compagnies Land in the North Pacific, features which he shows on all the other World maps in the Atlas. The gore segments also lack any of the highly elaborate religious imagery and iconography that appears on most of the other maps in his Atlas Novus. A small circular cartouche in the South Pacific indicates that the engraving was undertaken in Munich in the year 1700. No original examples of Scherer's globe in its made-up form, that is with the segments cut and stuck onto a globe, appear to be recorded although, from the main title which appears above the map - Typus Totius Orbis Terra-Quei Geographice Delineatus Et Ad Usum Globo Materiali Superinducendus - this is clearly what Scherer intended. The Greaves & Thomas Scherer globe is probably therefore the first ever time the gores have appeared in this final made-up format. It forms a unique and fascinating early 18th Century image of the World that will delight students, scholars and collectors alike.
by Roderick M.Barron, Antique Map Specialist Sevenoaks, Kent, England.
References: -Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv - Edition Anton Konrad Die Jesuiten in Bayern (1549-1773), #198 -Rodney Shirley : The Mapping of the World (Holland Press London 1984) Entry 633 Plate 437. Other World maps by Scherer: Entries 626 - 636, Plates 430-436.
Text Copyright © 2000 Greaves & Thomas. London.
Scherer's Globe on Triangular Stand.REF......................... GT 1700 T
Scherer's Globe on Circular Stand. REF............................GT 1700 CPrices vary depending where on this globe you presently live**. If you are interested in any of our globes on our web site, please email us the reference number(s) and state which country you live in and if you require a shipping quote.
** If purchased within the European Community 17.5% VAT will be included in the purchase price.
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Greaves & Thomas, fine Globemakers, a potted history.
Award winning Globemakers Greaves & Thomas are a small company based in the United Kingdom, today they make Historical Globes, Celestial Globes, Lunar Globes, Planetary Globes, Facsimile Globes, Replica Globes, Themed Globes, Paper Folding Globes, and Modern Day Globes. Arts Corespondent Jemmy Button looks into their history.
In 1991 James Bissell-Thomas after several years of research, published his first globe (Merzbach & Falk's 1881 globe). The globe was well received, especially because of the ageing techniques developed to lend the globes a patina producing a convincing replica. James Bissell-Thomas believes that this was achieved because of his Art School background, his printing knowledge gained running his own publishing house in the 1980's (Long Tail Prints) combined with his knowledge as an antiques dealer. In 1991 the first globe joined an already existing eclectic range of furnishing ideas which included Giant Tennis Rackets, Rivercraft furniture, Hat Boxes etc. (most are still being made: www.gtstore.co.uk) . It was because of James Bissell-Thomas' interest in globes, that the decision was then made to form a collection of globes, spanning cartographic history from 1492 to the present day.
At the time James' knowledge in globes was poor, however a good friend at the Royal Geographical Society pointed out that the following year (1992) would be not only be the 500 year anniversary of the European discovery of the New World, but it would also be the anniversary of the earliest surviving terrestrial globe ~ Martin Behaim's 'Erdapfel'. This globe today resides in the Germanishes Museum in Germany, rightly described by Bissell-Thomas as the 'Holy Grail' of all globes, not just because of its age, but also because of the profusion of data inscribed on the globe, the globe is best described as a medieval geographical census describing the world beyond Europe, listing the origin of spices, metals, traditions, peoples, animals, islands and religions etc. not only this but the globe covered in beautiful illustrations by Glockendon.
Despite the globe being on an elaborate stand, with extremely detailed artwork, Greaves & Thomas still decided it would be wise to republish this fine relic. Appointments were then made with the Germanisches Museum and flights were booked. On arrival at the museum in September 1991, it transpired that the Germanisch Museum had its own globe publishing interest and was not interested in helping G&T achieve their goal. Consequently, they were given a very limited time to study the original globe and reference images they also commissioned from the Museum were later blocked and never arrived. While many would have given up, Greaves & Thomas decided that it would persevere, knowing that what ever they produced would ultimately be compared to a rival globe that would have the Museum's seal of approval. All possible data concerning the globe was sourced and the finished result once again was well received, and is today is considered one of the most important globes in their collection.
In August 1992 when the Martin Behaim Globe was completed, Bissell-Thomas proudly informed the Germanish Museum that despite their reluctance to help, he had succeeded in making their facsimile. Soon after this 3 overseas business men arranged to come and see their Behaim Globe, at the time Greaves & Thomas was trading from 2 small garages in a small muddy yard, then even the two garages were not room enough, and a small 12' white square marquee had been hurriedly erected in the yard as a temporary measure. When the visitors arrived, they spent considerable time inspecting the globe, and then had an impromptu board meeting by themselves in the rain in the muddy yard, they re-entered, and announced that 2 of them were presidents of two globe companies, Rath Globes from Germany and Cram Globes from the USA. They informed Greaves & Thomas that they had been working with the Gemanishes Museum to produce their facsimile version, however upon inspection of the globe, they stated that they were keen to cease production of their own efforts and to market the G &T globe. This they did, with considerable success including selling one example to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Not only this, but the Gemanishes Museum also ordered a globe for themselves.
Greaves & Thomas have, on more than one occasion, offered to make the Germanische Museum's version, which would be one step closer to the original, but to date they have declined. The Greaves & Thomas version can now be found in numerous museums around the world.
From this point onwards, Greaves and Thomas would only concentrate on globes, initially historical globes but soon branching into themed globes: Holbein's Terrestrial Globe; Shakespeare's Globe; Alice's Celestial Globe and lastly the ludicrous Elvis Presley Mars Globe is another example of the diversity that can be achieved in globemaking, if one cares to explore the possibility of producing something other than the norm.
Today alongside their Themed Globes, Historical Replica Globes and their Modern Day Globes, Greaves & Thomas have also added the spectacular 'Hermetic Globe' to their Collection and this will soon be followed by a production version of their amazing Invisible Globe.
Greaves & Thomas now also have now formed an interesting collection of globes made in the last 300 years by other globemakers, this 500 strong collection will soon be prominently displayed in the Museum that they are presently preparing on the Isle of Wight. This should be a Mecca for designers as it will show numerous different versions of the same object. Not only this, but they will be using the Sistine Chapel's ceiling as inspiration to make a stunning celestial ceiling, and at the same time show one of the finest optical illusions in the world.
A surprising aspect of Greaves & Thomas is that they produce all their Globes in the UK. While numerous companies in the UK now relocate their production to the far east, in order to survive in today's cut throat market, G&T continue to produce a quality product which is well received. Their workforce never more than 5 craftpersons, and the globes they offer are limited by craft instead of number, this is verified in the small numbers of certain globes produced each year ( for example 2-6 Coronelli Globes per year and 5-12 Behaim Iron Stand Versions per year) , consequently there is always a waiting list for the larger more intricate globes that Greaves & Thomas produce. The globes are made using recycled papers and the wooden components for the elaborate stands are also made using reclaimed / recycled timber. Consequently Greaves & Thomas globes will never cost the Earth.
Jemmy Button, Arts Corespondent
TO VIEW THE G&T GLOBE COLLECTION CLICK HERE!