The ivory frame is carved with floral motifs and images of numerous measuring instruments in the Medici collection, now preserved at the Museo Galileo of Florence. At the top was a ribbon, now missing, with the inscription "MEDICEA SIDERA" [Medici stars]. At the bottom was a model of the universe encircled by the inscription "CLARA DEUM SOBOLES MAGNUM IOVIS INCREMENTUM" [Bright generation of the Gods, great enrichment of Jupiter]. A ribbon runs all along the frame with the inscription "HIC ET PRIMUS RETEXIT MACULAS PHEBI ET IOVIS ASTRA" [He first discovered the spots on Phebus (i.e., the Sun) and Jupiter's stars]. A cartouche is inscribed "COELUM LINCEAE GALILEI MENTI APERTUM VITREA PRIMA HAC MOLE NONDUM VISA OSTENDIT SYDERA MEDICEA IURE AB INVENTORE DICTA SAPIENS NEMPE DOMINATUR ET ASTRIS" [The sky opened by the lynx-like thought of Galileo with this first glass lens showed stars never seen before, rightly called Medicean by their discoverer. The wise man indeed dominates the stars as well.]. Below the cartouche appears we can read "VC," the signature of the engraver, Vittorio Crosten.