| Date |
1227/8 (A.H. 625) |
| Maker |
‘Abd al-Karīm
al-Miṣrī |
| Place |
Cairo (?) |
| Material |
Brass |
| Acquisition |
Presented by Lewis Evans in
1924 |
| Accession |
1924-0/2000 |
Provenance
Evans bought it from the Comtesse de
l'Espinasse in 1911 (paying £250, the highest amount that he
ever paid for an astrolabe). It was exhibited by her at the
Paris Exposition of 1900. An owner in 1420/21 (A.H. 824) has
had the rete modified or repaired, probably in Persia. It was
originally made for the sultan of Mesopotamia Al-Malik
al-Ashraf Mūsā (Abū-l-Fātih Mūsā ibn Abū-l-Bakr ibn Ayyūb), a
nephew of Saladin, who ruled from 1210 to ca.1237 and to whom
there is a lengthy inscription around the rim. The maker was
an Egyptian (al-Miṣrī), but being called so may probably
have been working in another Arabian city, such as Damascus,
the centre of the craft of 'damascening' or metal inlaying,
of which this astrolabe is such a fine example.