Ostrich Egg Globe: Difference between revisions

 

Line 4: Line 4:

[[File:The Ostrich Egg Globe map, 1504.png|thumb|”[[Mundus Novus]]” depicted on the globe|307x307px]]

[[File:The Ostrich Egg Globe map, 1504.png|thumb|”[[Mundus Novus]]” depicted on the globe|307x307px]]

The ”’Ostrich Egg Globe”’ is a hollow terrestrial [[globe]] purportedly<ref name=”Pippal2024″/> made from the conjoined lower halves of two [[ostrich egg]]s.<ref name=”Kim2013″/> The map carved on the globe is an extremely close,<ref name=”Kim2013″/> if not identical,<ref name=”Bracke2019″/> match to the [[Hunt–Lenox Globe]], a copper globe reliably dated to about 1510. The owner<ref name=”Bracke2019″/> of the Ostrich Egg Globe, Stefaan Missinne, claims that it was made in the early 16th century and would therefore be the first globe ever to depict the [[New World]].<ref name=”Kim2013″/><ref name=”Draxler2013″/> Various researchers do not support Missinne’s claims, pointing to X-Ray images of the globe and mistakes around the globe’s equator.<ref name=”Pippal2024″/>

The ”’Ostrich Egg Globe”’ is a hollow terrestrial [[globe]] made from the conjoined lower halves of two [[ostrich egg]]s.<ref name=”Kim2013″/> The map carved on the globe is an extremely close,<ref name=”Kim2013″/> if not identical,<ref name=”Bracke2019″/> match to the [[Hunt–Lenox Globe]], a copper globe reliably dated to about 1510. The owner<ref name=”Bracke2019″/> of the Ostrich Egg Globe, Stefaan Missinne, claims that it was made in the early 16th century and would therefore be the first globe ever to depict the [[New World]].<ref name=”Kim2013″/><ref name=”Draxler2013″/> Various researchers not support Missinne’s claims, pointing to X-Ray images of the globe and mistakes around the globe’s equator.

==Missinne’s theories==

==Missinne’s theories==

Line 15: Line 15:

In 2018, Missinne published a book titled ”The Da Vinci Globe” (the title a reference to ”[[The Da Vinci Code]]” (2003)) promoting his theory of the globe’s provenance. Cartographer Wouter Bracke, reviewing ”The Da Vinci Globe” in 2019, stated that Missine’s book should be considered “a report on the author’s research into the globe and [not] a final scientific and academic publication,” and that [[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]]’s lack of [[editorial board]] “clearly failed to guide the author in the preparation of his publication.” Ultimately, while Bracke seems to accept the idea that the Ostrich Egg Globe is a true product of the “early 16th century,”<ref name=”Bracke2019″/> he states that more research is needed into its provenance and recent history.

In 2018, Missinne published a book titled ”The Da Vinci Globe” (the title a reference to ”[[The Da Vinci Code]]” (2003)) promoting his theory of the globe’s provenance. Cartographer Wouter Bracke, reviewing ”The Da Vinci Globe” in 2019, stated that Missine’s book should be considered “a report on the author’s research into the globe and [not] a final scientific and academic publication,” and that [[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]]’s lack of [[editorial board]] “clearly failed to guide the author in the preparation of his publication.” Ultimately, while Bracke seems to accept the idea that the Ostrich Egg Globe is a true product of the “early 16th century,”<ref name=”Bracke2019″/> he states that more research is needed into its provenance and recent history.

==Criticism of Missinne’s theories==

== of Missinne’s theories==

Dir. Dr .Heinrich Piening refuted the plastic hypothesis of the aforementioned ‘reputable historians’ with a CT scan using an industrial computer tomograph from Zeiss Metrotom 3.1 at Zeiss in Munich on 4 November 2025. In it, he clearly showed (at 0.012 mm) the protein-bonded joint between the two eggshells of the globe (confirmed by Raman) at the equator. He thus proved that the eggshells were organic and confirmed the results of Raman report 418,758 by Technologie und Innovations GmbH dated 31 May 2016, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2018. The da Vinci Globe was acquired in the 1960s in London’s Greenwich Village by Tony Burgess<ref>Heinrich, Piening, Globe from the collection of Prof. Dr. Stefaan Missinne, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, CT scan dated 4 November 2025. In preparation.</ref><ref>Stefaan Missinne, The Da Vinci Globe, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018, ISBN, 1527511340, p. 4 and p. 249.</ref>. On 3 December 2025, Westcam in St. Florian near Linz performed a CT scan of the da Vinci Globe, which allowed the structure of the globe to be analysed without the colours (iron gall ink) for the first time<ref>APA. The world on an eggshell: Leonardo da Vinci globe in 3D scan. <nowiki>https://science.apa.at/power-search/6225539076038115369</nowiki> consulted on 19 December 2025.</ref>.

An international research team dealing with the question of the globe’s authenticity concluded that the globe is a synthetic replica, presumably made during a facsimile campaign of the Hunt-Lenox Globe in 1984-1985.<ref name=”Pippal2024″/> The X-Ray images published by Missinne shows no pores, according to the research team, which should be present on ostrich eggs. Moreover, the Ostrich Egg Globe shows “hundreds of mistakes” around the equator, consistent with later facsimiles, and absent on the Hunt-Lenox Globe.<ref name=”Presse2023″/>

==See also==

==See also==

Hollow terrestrial globe

The Ostrich Egg Globe is a hollow terrestrial globe made from the conjoined lower halves of two ostrich eggs.^[1] The map carved on the globe is an extremely close,^[1] if not identical,^[2] match to the Hunt–Lenox Globe, a copper globe reliably dated to about 1510. The owner^[2] of the Ostrich Egg Globe, Stefaan Missinne, claims that it was made in the early 16th century and would therefore be the first globe ever to depict the New World.^[1][3] Various researchers who did not support Missinne’s claims, pointing to X-Ray images of the globe and mistakes around the globe’s equator were refuted Computer Tomography by research of Dir. Dr. H. Piening in Munich dating from December 2025.

The globe’s primary investigator, Stefaan Missinne, claimed in 2013 that the globe had been “found”^[4] at the London Map Fair in 2012,^[4][1] by an owner who preferred to remain anonymous; that it had passed through at least two dealers’ hands already; and that it “had been part of an important European collection for many decades”^[4] before that.^{[citation needed]}

Missinne further claimed that the remarkable similarity between the maps on the Hunt–Lenox Globe and the Ostrich Egg Globe indicated that contrary to popular belief, “the Lenox Globe was not engraved, but rather cast from the ostrich egg globe using a very specific and unusual technique,”^[4] and that in fact this casting process must have happened before the two halves of the Ostrich Egg Globe were joined,^[4] giving the Ostrich Egg Globe effectively the same age as the Hunt–Lenox Globe.^{[citation needed]}

Further, in 2013, Missinne claimed that the globe showed “influence from Leonardo’s workshop.”^[4]: 19 By 2017 claimed that the globe was crafted in precisely 1504 by a left-handed engraver whom Missinne identifies as Leonardo da Vinci himself.^[5]

In 2018, Missinne published a book titled The Da Vinci Globe (the title a reference to The Da Vinci Code (2003)) promoting his theory of the globe’s provenance. Cartographer Wouter Bracke, reviewing The Da Vinci Globe in 2019, stated that Missine’s book should be considered “a report on the author’s research into the globe and [not] a final scientific and academic publication,” and that Cambridge Scholars Publishing‘s lack of editorial board “clearly failed to guide the author in the preparation of his publication.” Ultimately, while Bracke seems to accept the idea that the Ostrich Egg Globe is a true product of the “early 16th century,”^[2] he states that more research is needed into its provenance and recent history.

Dir. Dr .Heinrich Piening refuted the plastic hypothesis of the aforementioned ‘reputable historians’ with a CT scan using an industrial computer tomograph from Zeiss Metrotom 3.1 at Zeiss in Munich on 4 November 2025. In it, he clearly showed (at 0.012 mm) the protein-bonded joint between the two eggshells of the globe (confirmed by Raman) at the equator. He thus proved that the eggshells were organic and confirmed the results of Raman report 418,758 by Technologie und Innovations GmbH dated 31 May 2016, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2018. The da Vinci Globe was acquired in the 1960s in London’s Greenwich Village by Tony Burgess^[6][7]. On 3 December 2025, Westcam in St. Florian near Linz performed a CT scan of the da Vinci Globe, which allowed the structure of the globe to be analysed without the colours (iron gall ink) for the first time^[8].

Cite error: A list-defined reference named “Pippal2024” is not used in the content (see the help page).
Cite error: A list-defined reference named “Presse2023” is not used in the content (see the help page).

• L. Salvatelli, J. Constable, Riflessi (ed enigmi) in una sfera di vetro, in Medioevo, 279 (2020), pp. 12–16.
• Keim, Frank (2018). “Salvator Mundi: Die Entdeckung der JUPITERMONDE durch Leonardo, Dürer und Giorgione”. Universität Ulm. doi:10.18725/OPARU-5423.
• “El globo terráqueo de Leonardo, el más antiguo del mundo” [Leonardo’s globe, the oldest in the world]. rtve.es (in Spanish). 6 June 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2025. (interview with S. Missinne)
• Pippal, Martina; Horst, Thomas; Blänsdorf, Catharina; Falcon Martinez, Maria Fernanda (2025). “The Hunt-Lenox Globe – The Original and Replicas of It”. Globe Studies. The Journal of the International Coronelli Society (69/2025). Vienna: 117–161. ISSN 1680-5356.