Astrolabe Catalogue

The collection contains four astrolabes confidently attributed to the Paris workshop of Jean Fusoris (c.1365-1436). They are part of a family of well-made late Gothic astrolabes with a number of distinctive characteristics in common: a plate for the latitude of Paris, the T shaped strapwork within the ecliptic of the rete, and the incorrect positioning of the star pointer for cornu arietis. (The other Fusoris astrolabes in the collection are inventory nos. 39540, 47674, and 53801.)

The workshop was begun in the 1390s, but is not thought to have continued after 1415. In that year Fusoris was imprisoned for treason, and subsequently exiled from Paris. The charge arose as a result of his cultivation of wealthy patrons at the English court during the time of king Henry V’s claim to the French throne. A university-educated man and an ordained priest, Fusoris also wrote treatises on instruments and designed astronomical clocks. He represents a medieval and renaissance tradition of scholar-craftsmen, and is one of the earliest European astrolabe makers known by name.

View all images for this astrolabe
View detailed provenance for this astrolabe