Inventory no. 45133 - Former Display Label
RETE of ?English Early Gothic ASTROLABE c.1320
A brass rete from an early Gothic astrolabe ('semi-quatrefoil' - or 'trefoil' - type).
Astrolabes with 'semiquatrefoil' or 'trefoil' rete are probably the earliest type of
design, differing from the Hispano-Moorish pattern, which was developed in medieval
Christian Europe. They date from c.1260 until c.1360, when the 'Y'-type of Gothic
astrolabe (cf. the Painswick astrolabe and the astrolabe from the Gunther Loan Collect-
ion, both c.1370, shown in the adjacent vertical bay, and the label 'Chaucer and the
Astrolabe' on the left) became common. Certain features of the design of this rete
such as the shape of the star-pointers, the short equinoctial band, and the ogival treat-
ment (derived from the Moorish arch) of the northern end of the meridian line, show
Hispano-Moorish influence.
The rete has pointers for 38 stars, whose average positions represent a stage of
precession 9° before that of the present day. This and the stylistic evidence point
to a date c.1320 +- 20 years. Most of the star-pointers are plain, but several have
received a pictorial treatment.
This rete is similar to that of an English astrolabe of the same period in the Science
Museum, London [no. 1880. 26; IC 243], and might be from the same workshop.
Formerly in the Collection of R. P. Howgrave-Graham, Esq.
[56-107; IC 294] Acquired in 1956