Lot Essay
A rare globe by an important maker, dated AD 1663-4 (AH 1074). Diya' al-Din Muhammed was the great-grandson of Ustadh shaykh Allah-dad asturlabi Humayani Lahuri (fl. 1567/8), the founder of a dynasty of instrument makers that lasted through four generations until 1691/2. Maddison and Savage-Smith (p. 219) note that Allah-dad was, "always characterised as asturlabi Humayuni Lahuri ('the Humayun astrolabist of Lahore'), presumably meaning that Allah-dad was in some way patronised by or associated with the royal court" of the Mughal Emperor Muhammed Humayun (reigned 1530-1540; 1555-56), who "According to Mulla Badawni ... 'was matchless in the science of astronomy, astrology and all other strange arts'". Indeed, "Humayun died, it is reported, from falling down the stairs of his library, which had been converted from a three-storey bastion so that it could be used for an observatory. He had been hurrying down the stairs after the evening call to prayers interrupted a discussion he was having with some mathematicians, while awaiting the appearance of the planet Venus".
This example is unusually large, with a diameter of 9 inches (23cm.). The globes by Diya' al-Din Muhammed listed by Savage-Smith range in diameter from 4 inches (10cm., no. 24) to 6¾ inches (17cm., no. 18). The quality of the constellation depictions is also remarkable - for example the jewellery is more ornate than normal, and the style is more reminiscent of manuscript miniatures than of instruments.
The globe is cast from brass by the cire perdu or lost wax technique, a difficult and technically demanding method which created a seamless sphere, and was a speciality of the Lahore workshop. Madison and Savage-Smith note that cire perdu cast seamless globes "originated in north-western India towards the end of the 16th century, the earliest confirmed date being AH 998 (AD 1589-90) on a globe produced by 'Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman" (p. 172). The globe has three rectangular metal plugs, which were used to fill gaps left by the casting process: one has been inserted from the inside, and two of a different alloy have been inserted from the outside. The solstitial colure is marked by a series of dots, which have then been over-scribed with a deep line, and one of the lattitude measuring circles has had an irregular series of triangular marks cut in over the finely dotted line.
17 signed celestial globes by Diya' al-Din Muhammed, dated between 1645 and 1680, are known, and fall into three categories. The first group of 13, which includes the present example, show the 48 constellation figures and approximately 1018 stars of the catalogue of the Ulugh Beg observatory ("it is likely that [this] catalog ... was used as a source for the star positions ... for all the globes of the Lahore workshop", Savage-Smith, p. 38). Of the seven of this type cited by Savage-Smith (nos. 18-24) all are in institutional collections. The second group of three are simpler, have no constellation outlines and mark only the major stars, whilst the third comprises a unique type of armillary sphere, with an open-work outer shell of two hemispheres, from which the metal between the engraved constellations has been excised, commissioned by the Mughal ruler Aurangzib Alamgir.
This example is unusually large, with a diameter of 9 inches (23cm.). The globes by Diya' al-Din Muhammed listed by Savage-Smith range in diameter from 4 inches (10cm., no. 24) to 6¾ inches (17cm., no. 18). The quality of the constellation depictions is also remarkable - for example the jewellery is more ornate than normal, and the style is more reminiscent of manuscript miniatures than of instruments.
The globe is cast from brass by the cire perdu or lost wax technique, a difficult and technically demanding method which created a seamless sphere, and was a speciality of the Lahore workshop. Madison and Savage-Smith note that cire perdu cast seamless globes "originated in north-western India towards the end of the 16th century, the earliest confirmed date being AH 998 (AD 1589-90) on a globe produced by 'Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman" (p. 172). The globe has three rectangular metal plugs, which were used to fill gaps left by the casting process: one has been inserted from the inside, and two of a different alloy have been inserted from the outside. The solstitial colure is marked by a series of dots, which have then been over-scribed with a deep line, and one of the lattitude measuring circles has had an irregular series of triangular marks cut in over the finely dotted line.
17 signed celestial globes by Diya' al-Din Muhammed, dated between 1645 and 1680, are known, and fall into three categories. The first group of 13, which includes the present example, show the 48 constellation figures and approximately 1018 stars of the catalogue of the Ulugh Beg observatory ("it is likely that [this] catalog ... was used as a source for the star positions ... for all the globes of the Lahore workshop", Savage-Smith, p. 38). Of the seven of this type cited by Savage-Smith (nos. 18-24) all are in institutional collections. The second group of three are simpler, have no constellation outlines and mark only the major stars, whilst the third comprises a unique type of armillary sphere, with an open-work outer shell of two hemispheres, from which the metal between the engraved constellations has been excised, commissioned by the Mughal ruler Aurangzib Alamgir.