This globe once rotated, charting the constellations. A unique object uniting extraordinarily complex mechanical technology with great aesthetic beauty, it belonged to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, who displayed it in his curiosity cabinet. It was valued both for its function as a scientific apparatus and for its rich, elegant casework. Pegasus bears the seemingly weightless globe on his outstretched wings. Astronomy was enabled by knowledge of arithmetic and geometry, then considered "the wings of the human mind."[Elizabeth Cleland, 2017]