Exhibition: The Astrolabe, East and West


The whole earth and the heavens

One of the plates of this astrolabe has two terrestrial planispheres, one on either side. One shows the earth from the North Pole to the Tropic of Capricorn, the other from the South Pole to the Tropic of Cancer. The southern plate is shown here beside the rest of the astrolabe. At its centre, Antarctica is shown with a clear outline but a Latin inscription saying "Southern land not yet known". The original instrument, including the planispheres, was made at Narbonne in France in 1600, by a certain Morillard of Lyons, while a later plate has a projection for Paris and a universal projection of the celestial sphere.
Closeup of Geographical Astrolabe, by Morillard, Narbonne, 1600  (Inv. 53966) Full image of Geographical Astrolabe, by Morillard, Narbonne, 1600  (Inv. 53966)
Geographical Astrolabe, by Morillard, Narbonne, 1600 (Inv. 53966)
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