The ‘Scheepsglobe’

In November 2023, a team from Factum Foundation worked with Utrecht’s Centraal Museum to record the ‘Scheepsglobe’ (ship globe) in high resolution. This enigmatic c. 1731 paper globe is anonymously annotated with the daily progress of the Berkenroode‘s journey from Batavia (today’s Jakarta), to Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, to Amsterdam. It is the centre of a new research and digital documentation project that the museum carries out in collaboration with Utrecht University and, as of December 16th, it is on show in the museum’s new permanent display, adding to the various perspectives on the collection’s colonial ties.

Pedro Miró and Jorge Cano recording the Scheepsglobe with the Selene PSS, in collaboration with Utrecht University’s graduate student Romée van Oostenbrugge © Sanne Frequin

Over two days, Pedro Miró and Jorge Cano recorded the globe using a combination of photogrammetry and a portable version of the Selene Photometric Stereo System, capturing the shape, curvature, colour and 3D surface in high resolution. The digital information, once processed, will help upcoming conservation treatments and will facilitate the dissemination of this unique object as a 3D model.

The ‘Scheepsglobe’ has been selected as The Netherlands’ entry for ‘Twin it! 3D for Europe’s culture’, a campaign by the European Commission and the Europeana Initiative, under the auspices of the Swedish and Spanish Presidencies of the Council of the EU, culminating during the Belgian Presidency.