Astrolabe, Persian, 15th or 16th Century

Inventory Number:

41261

Object Type:

Object

Place Created:

Iran/Persia Asia

Subject Classification(s):

Astrolabes

Accession Number:

1924-0/part

Brief Description:

A small, portable Persian astrolabe unsigned and undated likely from the 1400s or 1500s CE. Its peculiarity is the presence, on the back, of a series of lines indicating the showing the direction of Mecca (the qibla) for the cities of al-Faris, Isfahan, ar-Rayy, Hamadan, al-Basra and Baghdad. This is typical of qibla indicators rather than astrolabes

Provenance:

Presented by Lewis Evans. Bought by Evans in March 1918 from Gélis of Paris, through P. Webster.

Collection Group:

Lewis Evans Collection

Material(s):

Brass

Dimensions: