© Aga Khan Museum © Aga Khan Museum


This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

The constellations Andromeda and Pisces
Folio from a dispersed Kitab Suwar al-Kawakib (Images of the Fixed Stars)

Location:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Holding Museum:

Aga Khan Museum

About Aga Khan Museum, Toronto

Date of Object:

ca. 1450

Museum Inventory Number:

AKM43

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Opaque watercolour, ink, gold, and silver on paper

Dimensions:

21.3 x 14.7cm

Period / Dynasty:

Timurid

Provenance:

Iran

Description:

The lady in this saffron-coloured robe and crown-like helmet is a personification of the constellation Andromeda, which was identified by the second-century CE astronomer Ptolemy and continues to be considered a major constellation. With the translation of Ptolemy’s Almagest in the court of the ninth-century Caliph al-Ma’mun in Baghdad, astronomers working under the patronage of the Muslim rulers in modern-day Iraq and Iran adopted the Greco-Roman astronomical knowledge and expanded on it from the indigenous Arab (Anwa’) and Indian astronomical traditions, in this illustration combining Andromeda with Pisces. The most prominent example of this tradition is 'Images of the Fixed Stars' written by the Iranian astronomer ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (died 986), which contained two representations of each constellation, one looking up at the constellation from Earth and the other looking down on it from above. Al-Sufi’s work continued to be in broad circulation, and various copies exist in major museum collections.

How Object was obtained:

Former Prince Saddrudin Aga Khan Collection

Citation of this web page:

 "The constellations Andromeda and Pisces
Folio from a dispersed Kitab Suwar al-Kawakib (Images of the Fixed Stars)" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;ca;Mus21;23;en

MWNF Working Number: CA1 23

RELATED CONTENT

 Artistic Introduction

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Timurids


On display in


Download

As PDF (including images) As Word (text only)