Inventory no. 53801 - Former Display Label
16
French late Gothic ASTROLABE
c.1400
Not signed or dated, but attributable to the workshop of Jean Fusoris (cf. nos. 14 and 15). Brass. Diam.: 101 mm.
Rete for 21 stars, all named. 4 plates (originally probably five or six), for latitudes 42°, with an unfinished tablet of unequal hours on the other side; 45°, unfinished tablet; inscribed "parisi" [i.e. Paris], unfinished; 52°, tablet of horizons. The plates are engraved with azimuths and lines of unequal hours, in addition to the usual equatorial and tropical circles and almucantars. The mater is blank. On the back are a shadow-square, a diagram of unequal hours, a zodiac/calendar scale (0° Aries = 111/2 March; eccentric type), and the usual scales of degrees. One arm of the alidade is engraved as for horary use with a scale of unequal hours. A bolt and nut replace the original pin and horse.
From the Claude Fry Collection.
[IC 196; 57-84/175B]
J. A. Billmeir Collection