ASTROLABE MOROCCO XIXth Century
In cast brass, hammered and engraved, entirely inscribed in Maghribi kufic Arabic, unsigned.
Diameter : 10 cm H (including ring) : 16,5 cm
Condition : Very good condition
Provenance :
The astrolabe is a scientific instrument intended to read the solar or stellar time in a given point, to make astronomical or astrological observations.
It was used by the "Time Calculators" to calculate the time of prayers, lunations (for Ramadan), the orientation of Mecca and the establishment of horoscopes.
For navigation, it has a set of disks called tympanums, allowing to adjust the representation of the sky according to the latitude of the place. The spider representing the ecliptic circle, and pointing the position of the main stars of the sky turns around the axis.
A ruler allows to measure the height of a star or to point a mark on the limb of the astrolabe.
The spider marks the position of 24 stars with their names (twelve northern stars inside the ecliptic and twelve southern stars outside), by indexes in the form of hooks. There are three brass mudir (small nail to turn the spider)
The mother is without inscription.
The limb of the instrument, fused in one piece with the kursi (throne), is riveted at four points on the back to form the mother. A 360° scale is engraved on the limb, divided by groups of two degrees and numbered by groups of ten degrees.
The kursi is composed of three lobes decorated with four circles
The spandrels are three in number, they are engraved on both sides, there must have been a fourth. It is a representation of the globe, they are circular and provided with a small appendix of square form which allows their maintenance in the mother.
They serve the following precise latitudes:
31°30 Marrakech
33°30 Fez
35° Tangier
30° Cairo
34° For all cities of such latitude
36° For all the cities of such latitude
Each tympanum has arrowed lines indicating the prayers and the horizon.
The back is engraved with six concentric scales, including a zodiacal calendar and a Christian calendar. In the center, a shadow square is used to determine the meridian height of the sun, knowing the latitude of the place.
The alidade, screw and nut are original.
Bibliographical references
Sharon A. Gibbs, Janice Henderson Derek Price, A computarized checklist of astrolabes 1973 N° 3703
L. A Mayer, Islamic Astrolabists
Richard Ettingghauser Aus der welt der Islamichen Kunst für Ernest Kuhnel zum 75 Berlin 1959, 293-96
D.A. King, In Synchrony with the Heavens- Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization, vol.1: The Call of the Muezzin (Studies II, pp.1010-12 and 1014-15), Leiden, E.J. Brill, 2004-05.
For a similar astrolabe, Musée du Quai Branly inventory number 74.1963.6.1
For astrolabes of equivalent size:
Sotheby's London sale 6 October 2010 lot 143
Sotheby's London sale 7 October 2015 lot 327
We thank Azadeh Samii for her contribution.
Expert l Sabrina UZAN
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