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

Name of Object:

Astrolabe

Location:

Los Angeles, United States of America

Holding Museum:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

 About Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles

Date of Object:

Hegira 624 / AD 1226-1227

Museum Inventory Number:

M.2003.116a-k

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Gilt copper alloy

Dimensions:

21.3 x 14 x 2.9cm

Period / Dynasty:

Almohad

Provenance:

Spain

Description:

The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument device that Muslims inherited from the Hellenistic world and then passed on to medieval Europe. According to its inscriptions, this handsome gilt brass astrolabe was made in Seville, in southern Spain. Like all such instruments, it was designed to measure the altitude of the stars, sun or moon, and to establish different astronomical and topographical associations without resorting to calculations or formulas. It was especially valuable for timekeeping, as the Muslim times of prayer are astronomically determined. In addition to being functional, the astrolabe was also intended to be beautiful. This example is unusual in that it seems to have been altered nearly 70 years after it was made, possibly in Egypt or Syria; Seville had by that time already fallen to the Christian reconquest.

How date and origin were established:

According to its inscriptions, the astrolabe was made by Muhammad ibn ‘Abda al-‘Aziz al Khama’iri in Seville in Hegira 624/AD 1226-7, who may have a familial relationship with another Spanish astrolabist also associated with Seville. The rete of the astrolabe was later altered by the astrolabist Ibrahim in Mamluk Egypt or Syria in Hegira 693/AD 1293-4, based on an additional inscription.

How Object was obtained:

Carolyn Merchant (1936 - ), Berkeley, CA, until 2003 (gifted to): LACMA, gift of Carolyn Merchant.

How provenance was established:

Its Arabic inscriptions indicate it was made in Seville.

Selected bibliography:

Komaroff, Linda, Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rev. ed., Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005: 24, fig. 20.
Komaroff, Linda, Lo Terrenal y lo divino: Arte islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Angeles, Santiago, Chile: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015: 90.
Komaroff, Linda, Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016: 110, 122-123.

Citation of this web page:

LACMA Staff "Astrolabe" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus21;15;en

Prepared by: LACMA Staff


MWNF Working Number: US1 15