SIGNED BY IBN ABDALLAH, HERAT, AFGHANISTAN, DATED JUMADA AL-AKHAR AH 1219/JULY-AUGUST 1804 AD

Details

A BRASS ASTROLABE
SIGNED BY IBN ABDALLAH, HERAT, AFGHANISTAN, DATED JUMADA AL-AKHAR AH 1219/JULY-AUGUST 1804 AD
The brass mater with arabesque throne, the edge engraved with the date 1219, the rim crudely divided by 1° markings every 5°, with five latitude plates with inscriptions in naskh, altitude circles every 3° and azimuth arcs every 10°, one with a plate of horizons, the rete bears 25 named star pointers, the reverse with later alidade, crude shadow square, sexagesimal trigonometric grid, the upper half of which is incorrectly engraved with the horizontal lines being offset one square, the arcs of the zodiac with graphs of the sun's meridian and Qibla azimuths, the pin and horse later
4¾in. (11cm.) diam.

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Lot Essay

Signed as: sana'hu ibn 'abdallah (The son of 'Abdallah made it).

Around the edge the inscription reads: huwa al-sani' hasb al-amr-e navvab sulalat al-sadat al-'izam mir yusif 'alikjan al-radawi (razavi) khwajah sara dama allah ta'ala iqbalahu/dar dar al-saltana herat be-etmam rasid fil- tarikh-e shahr-e jumadi al-akhar sana 1219 min al-hijrat al-mubaraka al-nabawiyya (He (God) is The Maker. It was finished by the order of His Highness, the progeny of great Sayyids Mir Yusif 'Alikhan al-Radawi (Razavi) the eunuch - may God the Mighty make his Good-fortune eternal - in the Capital Herat in the month of Jumadi al-akhar the year 1219 (July-August 1804) of the blessed migration of the Prophet).

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