![The mater of a [?]17th-Century universal astrolabe, unsigned, undated, Northern India, possibly Delhi,](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/CSK/2001_CSK_09064_0032_000(024146).jpg?w=1)
細節
The mater of a [?]17th-Century universal astrolabe, unsigned, undated, Northern India, possibly Delhi,
made of brass, with occasional silver inlay -- 7 3/8in. (18.7cm.) outer diameter; 6 5/8in. (16.8cm.) inner diameter; 2in. (0.5cm.) thick
The throne is fairly high and essentially triangular with a series of lobes along each side. The shackle is attached to a hole just below the top of the throne and has a rosette on each side of its base. A circular ring with square cross-section is attached to the shackle. On the front of the throne is engraved in an Indian naskhi script the name Jamshid, presumably an owner. This name is used by Muslims only in Iran and India. The engraving lacks the fluidity of that on the rest of the mater.
The circumferential scale around the front of the mater is divided and labelled clockwise for each 6°, with sub-divisions for each 1°. The mater itself is engraved with markings for a universal projection, inlaid in silver. Called shakkaziyya in Arabic, these consist of meridians for each 6° and declination circles for each 6°. The arguments for the former (from the left: 6°, 12°, ... , 180°, and back: 186°, ... , 360°) are engraved on the horizontal diameter, those for the latter (both up and down from the centre: 6°, 12°, ... , 90°) are engraved on the vertical diameter.
In order to use these markings, the astrolabe would have originally have been fitted with a rete of which one half would have borne a hollowed-out half-set of shakkaziyya markings, and the other half would have been marked with a special ecliptic and some star-pointers. An example of such a rete, quite possibly from this very astrolabe, was auctioned in these rooms in October 1995. In the catalogue it was described as being from 17th-Century Lahore. Before the appearance of that rete it was not known that Muslim instrument-makers in the East even knew about the universal astrolabe. The inner diameter of this mater is 16.8cm. The diameter of the rete was given in the catalogue as 6 5/8in. converted to 16.9cm. As such measurements are notoriously inaccurate, the odds are overwhelming that the two parts once belonged together.
On the back, the outer scales are divided in each quadrant for each 6°, with subdivisions for each 1°. The upper left and two lower quadrants are correctly labelled as altitude scales (with arguments beginning at the horizontal diameter and increasing to 90° at the vertical diameter). In the upper right, the scale has been labelled the wrong way round, but the maker has added the correct labelling in a smaller script. Such corrections of engraving are extremely rare on Islamic instruments, as are, also, however, mistakes in engraving. In the upper left there is a universal horary quadrant, with each curve marked for the seasonal hours it serves: 11/2, ... , 7/5, 6/6. In the upper right is a sexagesimal trigonometric quadrant, with equally-spaced horizontals and verticals for each 3 units of the 60-unit scales. The arguments are engraved on each of the radial axes. A semicircle with its diameter on the horizontal axis serves the determination of the sine and cosine from the (corrected) arguments on the upper right scale. A quarter-circle with radius 24 serves the determination of the solar declination. Below the horizontal diameter is a double shadow-square, with divisions for each unit to 12 units on the left and the same to 7 units on the right. Inside the outer scales in the two lower quadrants are additional scales serving the same purpose as the corresponding scales on the shadow-squares. These are labelled appropriately zill-i asabi', "shadow in digits", and zill-i aqdam, "shadow in feet".
The piece is clearly Indian, possibly Delhi, possibly Lahore. In favour of a Delhi provenance is the fact that most of the astrolabes in the Archaeological Museum in Delhi today are unsigned. The only argument against a Lahore provenance is the fact that most Lahore instruments are signed and usually dated as well.
The missing rete was inspired by a rete of a universal astrolabe by Ibn al-Sarraj, the leading instrument-maker of the late Islamic Middle Ages, who worked in Aleppo around the year 1325. In a treatise extant in a unique manuscript he described a simple universal astrolabe of the kind we would have here (with the present mater and the Christie's rete). That instrument was not invented by Ibn al-Sarraj but rather by the 11th-century Toledo astronomer al-Shakkaz, whose universal astrolabe is described in the 13th-Century compendium compiled for Alfonso el Sabio and entitled Libros del saber de astronomía; no examples of al-Shakkaz's universal astrolabe survive. A much more complicated universal astrolabe made by Ibn al-Sarraj in 1328/29 is preserved in the Benaki Museum in Athens: this is the most sophisticated astronomical instrument from the Middle Ages. Also a simple mater of a standard astrolabe, with a set of horizons on the front and unfinished markings on the back rather similar to those on the back of the present mater, survives in a private collection in London. This combination of the present mater and the Christie's rete would represent the sole surviving universal astrolabe of the type first invented in 11th-century Toledo by al-Shakkaz.
See Colour Illustrations
made of brass, with occasional silver inlay -- 7 3/8in. (18.7cm.) outer diameter; 6 5/8in. (16.8cm.) inner diameter; 2in. (0.5cm.) thick
The throne is fairly high and essentially triangular with a series of lobes along each side. The shackle is attached to a hole just below the top of the throne and has a rosette on each side of its base. A circular ring with square cross-section is attached to the shackle. On the front of the throne is engraved in an Indian naskhi script the name Jamshid, presumably an owner. This name is used by Muslims only in Iran and India. The engraving lacks the fluidity of that on the rest of the mater.
The circumferential scale around the front of the mater is divided and labelled clockwise for each 6°, with sub-divisions for each 1°. The mater itself is engraved with markings for a universal projection, inlaid in silver. Called shakkaziyya in Arabic, these consist of meridians for each 6° and declination circles for each 6°. The arguments for the former (from the left: 6°, 12°, ... , 180°, and back: 186°, ... , 360°) are engraved on the horizontal diameter, those for the latter (both up and down from the centre: 6°, 12°, ... , 90°) are engraved on the vertical diameter.
In order to use these markings, the astrolabe would have originally have been fitted with a rete of which one half would have borne a hollowed-out half-set of shakkaziyya markings, and the other half would have been marked with a special ecliptic and some star-pointers. An example of such a rete, quite possibly from this very astrolabe, was auctioned in these rooms in October 1995. In the catalogue it was described as being from 17th-Century Lahore. Before the appearance of that rete it was not known that Muslim instrument-makers in the East even knew about the universal astrolabe. The inner diameter of this mater is 16.8cm. The diameter of the rete was given in the catalogue as 6 5/8in. converted to 16.9cm. As such measurements are notoriously inaccurate, the odds are overwhelming that the two parts once belonged together.
On the back, the outer scales are divided in each quadrant for each 6°, with subdivisions for each 1°. The upper left and two lower quadrants are correctly labelled as altitude scales (with arguments beginning at the horizontal diameter and increasing to 90° at the vertical diameter). In the upper right, the scale has been labelled the wrong way round, but the maker has added the correct labelling in a smaller script. Such corrections of engraving are extremely rare on Islamic instruments, as are, also, however, mistakes in engraving. In the upper left there is a universal horary quadrant, with each curve marked for the seasonal hours it serves: 11/2, ... , 7/5, 6/6. In the upper right is a sexagesimal trigonometric quadrant, with equally-spaced horizontals and verticals for each 3 units of the 60-unit scales. The arguments are engraved on each of the radial axes. A semicircle with its diameter on the horizontal axis serves the determination of the sine and cosine from the (corrected) arguments on the upper right scale. A quarter-circle with radius 24 serves the determination of the solar declination. Below the horizontal diameter is a double shadow-square, with divisions for each unit to 12 units on the left and the same to 7 units on the right. Inside the outer scales in the two lower quadrants are additional scales serving the same purpose as the corresponding scales on the shadow-squares. These are labelled appropriately zill-i asabi', "shadow in digits", and zill-i aqdam, "shadow in feet".
The piece is clearly Indian, possibly Delhi, possibly Lahore. In favour of a Delhi provenance is the fact that most of the astrolabes in the Archaeological Museum in Delhi today are unsigned. The only argument against a Lahore provenance is the fact that most Lahore instruments are signed and usually dated as well.
The missing rete was inspired by a rete of a universal astrolabe by Ibn al-Sarraj, the leading instrument-maker of the late Islamic Middle Ages, who worked in Aleppo around the year 1325. In a treatise extant in a unique manuscript he described a simple universal astrolabe of the kind we would have here (with the present mater and the Christie's rete). That instrument was not invented by Ibn al-Sarraj but rather by the 11th-century Toledo astronomer al-Shakkaz, whose universal astrolabe is described in the 13th-Century compendium compiled for Alfonso el Sabio and entitled Libros del saber de astronomía; no examples of al-Shakkaz's universal astrolabe survive. A much more complicated universal astrolabe made by Ibn al-Sarraj in 1328/29 is preserved in the Benaki Museum in Athens: this is the most sophisticated astronomical instrument from the Middle Ages. Also a simple mater of a standard astrolabe, with a set of horizons on the front and unfinished markings on the back rather similar to those on the back of the present mater, survives in a private collection in London. This combination of the present mater and the Christie's rete would represent the sole surviving universal astrolabe of the type first invented in 11th-century Toledo by al-Shakkaz.
See Colour Illustrations
出版
On the universal astrolabe and plate see:
KING, D.A., "On the Early History of the Universal Astrolabe in Islamic Astronomy and the Origin of the Term Shakkaziyya in Medieval Scientific Arabic", Journal of the History of Arabic Science 3 (1979) pp.244-257, repr. in idem., Studies B-VII, and idem., article "Shakkaziyya" in Encyclopedia of Islam, and Roser Puig Aguilar, chapter "Instrumentos universales in al-Andalus", in El legado científico andalusí, Juan Vernet and Julio Samsó, eds, (Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 1992) pp.67-73
On Ibn al-Sarraj see:
KING, D.A., "The Astronomical Instruments of Ibn al-Sarraj", (previously unpublished) in idem., Studies, XI
On the Benaki astrolabe (Gunther, Astrolabes, no.140) see:
KING, D.A., and CHARETTE, François, The Universal Astrolabe of Ibn al-Sarraj: Innovation in Islamic Science (forthcoming)
On an Indian astrolabe rete based on another universal astrolabe of Ibn al-Sarraj, see the description by D.A. King in:
Christie's London Sale Catalogue, 4.10.1995, pp.20-21, Lot 61
On the only other known universal instruments from Muslim India, both monumental in size, see the description by D.A. King in:
Christie's London Sale Catalogue, 24.9.1992, pp.48-49, Lot 199 (a shakkaziyya of 91cm. diameter) and
SARMA, S.R., "The Safiha Zarqaliyya in India", in From Baghdad to Barcelona. Studies in the Islamic Exact Sciences in Honour of Prof. Juan Vernet, Joseph Casulleras and Julio Samsó eds, 2 vols (Barcelona, 1996) II, pp.719-735 (a zarqaliyya of 55.5cm. diameter, with the original markings of al-Zarqallu'a zarqaliyya on the back).
KING, D.A., "On the Early History of the Universal Astrolabe in Islamic Astronomy and the Origin of the Term Shakkaziyya in Medieval Scientific Arabic", Journal of the History of Arabic Science 3 (1979) pp.244-257, repr. in idem., Studies B-VII, and idem., article "Shakkaziyya" in Encyclopedia of Islam, and Roser Puig Aguilar, chapter "Instrumentos universales in al-Andalus", in El legado científico andalusí, Juan Vernet and Julio Samsó, eds, (Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 1992) pp.67-73
On Ibn al-Sarraj see:
KING, D.A., "The Astronomical Instruments of Ibn al-Sarraj", (previously unpublished) in idem., Studies, XI
On the Benaki astrolabe (Gunther, Astrolabes, no.140) see:
KING, D.A., and CHARETTE, François, The Universal Astrolabe of Ibn al-Sarraj: Innovation in Islamic Science (forthcoming)
On an Indian astrolabe rete based on another universal astrolabe of Ibn al-Sarraj, see the description by D.A. King in:
Christie's London Sale Catalogue, 4.10.1995, pp.20-21, Lot 61
On the only other known universal instruments from Muslim India, both monumental in size, see the description by D.A. King in:
Christie's London Sale Catalogue, 24.9.1992, pp.48-49, Lot 199 (a shakkaziyya of 91cm. diameter) and
SARMA, S.R., "The Safiha Zarqaliyya in India", in From Baghdad to Barcelona. Studies in the Islamic Exact Sciences in Honour of Prof. Juan Vernet, Joseph Casulleras and Julio Samsó eds, 2 vols (Barcelona, 1996) II, pp.719-735 (a zarqaliyya of 55.5cm. diameter, with the original markings of al-Zarqallu'a zarqaliyya on the back).
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