Astrolabe Catalogue

There are two different styles of script on this astrolabe. The older is found on the tympans and the rete. It is a cruder script consisting entirely of square capitals, often created with a punch, and it uses older number shapes. The more recent script is found on the mater and the back and consists of both upper and lower case letters which have noticeable serifs. The lower-case 's' is like the long 's' typical of 16th-century printing (that is, it resembles an ‘f’). These letters appear to be formed with letter stamps.

It seems likely, based on their markedly different numbering and lettering styles, that the body of the instrument is of somewhat later construction than the tympans and the rete. The quality of craftsmanship is also different between the two parts, the latter reflecting a superior attention to detail and accuracy. The style of the rete is a form of the simple medieval Ysrc=+ype found in the 14th century. Finally, the latitudes for which the plates are engraved seems to reflect an earlier tradition. By the sixteenth century, it was less common to include latitudes as low as 33° and 36°.

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