Inventory no. 34611 - Former Display Label
56
Indo-Persian (Mughal) ASTROLABE
c.1600
Not signed or dated. Brass. Diam.: 217 mm.
Rete for 36 stars; the tracery of the rete is finely worked in a foliate pattern. 6 plates: (a) for latitudes 17° and 36°10'; (b) for latitudes 21°40' [i.e. for Mecca] and 25°; (c) for latitudes 27° and 32°; (d) for latitudes 30° and 40°; (e) for latitudes 45°, and a tablet of horizons of eastern type; (f) a tablet of horizons of western type, and a tablet of co-ordinates of the ecliptic. The plates are engraved with lines showing the Babylonian and Italian hours in addition to the usual almucantars and unequal hour lines. The azimuths, as on many Indian astrolabes, are drawn below the horizon line. The practice of drawing the azimuths below the horizon line is occasionally found on early Persian and other astrolabes (cf. for example, the astrolabes by Muhammad b. Abi Bakr, A.H. 618, and Abd al-Karim al-Misri, A.H. 625, in this Museum; but later is very rarely found except on those made in India, that is, both the Islamic Indo-Persian astrolabes, and the less common astrolabes engraved in Sanskrit). In the mater is engraved a circular table listing 104 places each with their latitude, co-latitude (an unusual feature), and longitude. The kursi is decoratively pierced as is common on Mughal astrolabes. The horse is a replacement, and a ilâqa (suspension cord) is missing. On the back are engraved a sexagesimal sine and cosine quadrant; the arcs of the signs of the zodiac; a shadow-square within which is an astrological table; an astrological table of triplicities and the usual scale of degrees. The alidade is engraved with a solar declination scale corresponding to the arcs of the signs, another declination scale marked in degrees, and a scale of unequal hours.
The workmanship of this astrolabe closely resembles that of no. 57-84/159 by Allâhdâd.
[57-84/159A]
Billmeir Collection