Pair of Gilt and Patinated Bronze Atlas Figures

This pair of unusual and exceptionally cast bronze figures of Atlas in the Renaissance style measure 54 in (137 cm) tall. They are of French origin but the designer and foundry are unknown. One figure supports a parcel-gilt globe (cast in two halves) with selected continents and oceans labelled. The other figure supports a gilt armillary sphere (a) depicting the earth at center, and in gilt rings the orbits of planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, plus two larger rings depicting the equinox and solstice. One large ring reads "COLURE DES ETOILES EQUINOXES FIXES" (colure equinoxes fixed stars) and the other “COLURE DES ETOILES SOLTICES FIXES” (colure of fixed stars solstices). (b)

In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who was condemned by Zeus to bear the heavens upon his shoulders for all time for his participation in the Clash of the Titans against the Olympian gods. He is also the Titan of astronomy and navigation.

On November 23, 2010, Christie’s in New York sold a nearly identical pair in lot 227 for $146,500 including buyer's premium.

(a) An armillary sphere is a model of objects in the sky (in the celestial sphere), consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth, that represent lines of celestial longitude and latitude and other astronomically important features such as the ecliptic. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus (c190– c120 BC) credited Eratosthenes (276–194 BC) as the inventor of the armillary sphere.

(b) Colure is either of two great circles intersecting at right angles at the celestial poles and passing through the ecliptic at either the equinoxes or the solstices. The solstice is an astronomical event that occurs twice each year as the Sun reaches its highest or lowest excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. The equinox is the moment (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator.