640 - Gemstone Globe, Miniature World Sphere with Semi-Precious Stone Inlays on a Round Base

Gemstone Globe, Miniature World Sphere with Semi-Precious Stone Inlays on a Round Base World sphere with inlay work of coloured semi-precious stones, mounted in a brass meridian ring on a turned black base, presumably cast metal. The sphere black, the land and island areas composed of green, red-brown, ochre, blue and white stone inlays, together with mother-of-pearl-coloured inlays. Graticule, equator and tropics gold-coloured, the country and ocean lettering red and white respectively, among others CANADA, UNITED STATES, ATLANTIC OCEAN and INDIAN OCEAN. The sphere rotates in the ring. Good condition commensurate with age, the metal mount rubbed. H. 14 cm. Stone inlay work of this kind stands in the tradition of pietra dura, the technique of inlaying with coloured hardstones which extends from the Italian Renaissance to the Indian Mughal period. To this day Jaipur in Rajasthan is the world's most important centre for the working of semi-precious stones; a large part of the stones traded worldwide are cut and polished there. The continents are composed of some twenty to thirty different kinds of stone, the sea areas of dark stone; the surface is finally sealed.