The brass orrery is the clockwork cosmos of the European Enlightenment — geared planets riding their orbits above a dark stained-wood base, built by London makers like John Rowley and George Graham around 1750. Its identity is bright polished brass mechanism glowing against near-black aged mahogany: precision gearwork, engraved horizon plates, and the warm patina of worked metal. This is a scientific instrument's gravitas — gold-on-dark-wood, never parchment cream.