Inventory no. 45133 - Epact entry
Epact number: 99165
Astrolabe
Unsigned
circa 1320; English
Brass; 135 mm in diameter
Main text
The rete is the only part of this astrolabe that is known to have survived.
It is nevertheless, as a very early astrolabe part, of no small significance. With its quatrefoil elements, the design is the earliest type in Christian Europe to differ distinctly from the Hispano-Moorish pattern.
Source museum: Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Museum number: Inventory no. 45,133
Detailed text
Astrolabe rete with quatrefoil and semi-quatrefoil elements in a design incorporating pointers for 38 named stars, some with animal or foliate features. The ecliptic band has the names and symbols of the zodiacal signs, each with a 30-degree scale, divided to 6, subdivided to 2, numbered by 6. The reverse of the ecliptic is similarly divided, but is not numbered. The meridian band is counterchanged four times, the east-west band three times.
Jim Bennett