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Lot Essay
The greatest legacy of Napoleon's brief conquest of Egypt was his setting up of the Institut d'Egypte and its publication of the Description de l'Egypte in 1802, studying all aspects of Egypt, both historical and scientific. This work is still unsurpassed as a record of a country at this date and is invaluable in studying Egypt of the 18th and 19th century. The Institut that achieved this was set up in 1797-98 and was composed of a wide variety of scientists including twelve mathematicians, ten physicists, together with other who studied the political economy, literature and the arts, all of whom were joined later by a further fifteen scientists of various interests. As part of this huge venture, in 1798/99, French astronomers, headed by Nicholas-Antoine Francois Nouet (one of the original mathematicians), set up a centre in Cairo. The initial publication between 1809 and 1828 comprised nine quarto volumes of text and eleven volumes of plates. It was re-issued in 1830 in twenty-six octavo volumes plus the same eleven volumes of plates.
As well as being documented by the French, there is a local Arab record, by 'Abd al Rahman al Jabarti, a citizen of Cairo, born in 1753, who worked with the French and kept a detailed journal that was published in 1878 under the title 'Aja'ib al-athar fi l-tarajim wa l'akhbar (Marvels, Extracts from Biographies and Events). In this journal he made two references to Nouet and his colleagues, describing also some of the instruments which the French used - including a specific reference to this double horizontal sundial.
Besides writing about the standard of Nouet and his disciples' work, creating 'wonderfully complex measuring instruments, all very costly and covered with shiny brass...[and]...perfectly screwed together...', al-Jabarti, writes of this piece itself, which was built into the upper wall in the courtyard of the ground floor of the house of Hassan Jarkis the Kashif (District Prefect), with whom Nouet lived. An engraving of the sundial is found in the Description de l'Égypte. Plate 60 of volume 1 shows 'Vue Intérieure de l'une des cours de la maison d'Hasan Kachef', clearly showing this sundial in its original position.
Al-Jabarti writes: 'He has also built...a sundial to show the hours before or after mid-day. But this sundial is not like ours [the ones we use] which show the 'asr [mid-day], the hourly degrees up until sunset, the arcs for dusk and dawn, the direction of the Qibla, the degree divisions etc. for determining prayer times. Since the French are not concerned with these indicators, they do not heed them' (Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, Journal d'un Notable du Caire Durant l'Expédition Française, Translated by Joseph Cuoq, Paris, 1979).
He goes on to described how "the same astronomer has also drawn numerous lines onto the surface of a square plaque of yellow brass. He has set this plaque on a column a little less high than the height of a man in the middle of the garden. The gnomon of this sundial has been replaced by an iron triangle of which the shadow of the tip is projected onto marker lines divided into degrees. It is an extremely beautiful piece, having on it all the required indicatory markings. The name of its creator is inscribed in Arabic in a beautiful and fine hand, as is [all] the engraving on this brass, which in enhanced with silver inlay".
This is thus a remarkable survival from one of the most important scientific surveys ever undertaken, a survey unique to its time, perfectly symbolised by the dual dating in the hijra calendar and in years of the Republic.
As well as being documented by the French, there is a local Arab record, by 'Abd al Rahman al Jabarti, a citizen of Cairo, born in 1753, who worked with the French and kept a detailed journal that was published in 1878 under the title 'Aja'ib al-athar fi l-tarajim wa l'akhbar (Marvels, Extracts from Biographies and Events). In this journal he made two references to Nouet and his colleagues, describing also some of the instruments which the French used - including a specific reference to this double horizontal sundial.
Besides writing about the standard of Nouet and his disciples' work, creating 'wonderfully complex measuring instruments, all very costly and covered with shiny brass...[and]...perfectly screwed together...', al-Jabarti, writes of this piece itself, which was built into the upper wall in the courtyard of the ground floor of the house of Hassan Jarkis the Kashif (District Prefect), with whom Nouet lived. An engraving of the sundial is found in the Description de l'Égypte. Plate 60 of volume 1 shows 'Vue Intérieure de l'une des cours de la maison d'Hasan Kachef', clearly showing this sundial in its original position.
Al-Jabarti writes: 'He has also built...a sundial to show the hours before or after mid-day. But this sundial is not like ours [the ones we use] which show the 'asr [mid-day], the hourly degrees up until sunset, the arcs for dusk and dawn, the direction of the Qibla, the degree divisions etc. for determining prayer times. Since the French are not concerned with these indicators, they do not heed them' (Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, Journal d'un Notable du Caire Durant l'Expédition Française, Translated by Joseph Cuoq, Paris, 1979).
He goes on to described how "the same astronomer has also drawn numerous lines onto the surface of a square plaque of yellow brass. He has set this plaque on a column a little less high than the height of a man in the middle of the garden. The gnomon of this sundial has been replaced by an iron triangle of which the shadow of the tip is projected onto marker lines divided into degrees. It is an extremely beautiful piece, having on it all the required indicatory markings. The name of its creator is inscribed in Arabic in a beautiful and fine hand, as is [all] the engraving on this brass, which in enhanced with silver inlay".
This is thus a remarkable survival from one of the most important scientific surveys ever undertaken, a survey unique to its time, perfectly symbolised by the dual dating in the hijra calendar and in years of the Republic.