Meanwhile, I found this little cutie at the V&A. It is not, in fact, a pomander. it is a handwarmer. Reading the description, you find out that it had a little lamp inside on gimbals so it could be rolled around inside a muff or whatever and remain upright. How cool is that! I wish I had some idea of what the inside looks like. Regardless, my brain is percolating with the idea. My math and science geek husband is also intrigued. I love the clockwork quirkiness of it. And its brass. Stick a gear on the outside and its TOTALLY Steamy, right?
Oh! I used to have a set of wrought iron 'ships lanterns' that were probably much like the workings of this ball.
ReplyDeleteMine was a small flat iron cup, just sized to receive a tea light candle, which pivoted in a ring of iron (via an attachment on two opposite sides), which pivoted within another iron ring (via attachment points at the 1/4 & 3/4 points, compared to the first ring's 1/2's). This assemblege of rings with alternating attachment points went on for four or five iterations before connecting to the outer ball-shaped shell.
Very cool and I could roll it around the yard while it was lit!