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

Name of Object:

A monumental planispheric astrolabe made for Shah Jahan, most probably by Diya’ al-Din Muhammad Lahori

Location:

London, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

Khalili Family Trust – Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art

About Khalili Family Trust – Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London

Date of Object:

AD between 1648–58

Museum Inventory Number:

SCI 53

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Brass, sheet and cast, cut and engraved; the rete is inlaid with silver

Dimensions:

H: 60.2cm; diameter: 52.6cm; thickness: 1.4cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mughal

Provenance:

Punjab, Lahore

Description:

The astrolabe was the principal Islamic instrument for telling the time, surveying and determining latitude. It consists of a solid body, the mater, into which fit a series of plates (six in this astrolabe) and a revolving circular web-like star map, the rete, known as ‘ankabut (‘spider’) in Arabic. The various elements, supplemented by a sighting vane (the alidade), on the back of the instrument, were held together by a pin.
In a recent detailed study, Professor S.R. Sarma has shown that this astrolabe is almost certainly the work of Diya’ al-Din Muhammad, a member of the famous Lahori astrolabe makers. Several features have led him to the conclusion that it was made for the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, sometime between 1648, when he moved his capital to Delhi renaming it Shahjahanabad – the name used on this astrolabe – and the end of his reign in 1658. Sanskrit legends were added to the Arabic ones in 1701, during which process the original inscription naming the maker, the date and the patron must have been effaced.

How date and origin were established:

Attribution, date and provenance based on extensive research by Professor S.R. Sarma.

Selected bibliography:

Maddison, F., and Savage-Smith, E., Science, Tools & Magic, London: The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume 12, Part One, 1997: cat.133, pp.230–33.
Sarma, S.R., “A Monumental Astrolabe Made for Shāh Jahān and Later Reworked with Sanskrit Legends”, Medieval Encounters, 23 (2017): 198–262.

Citation of this web page:

 "A monumental planispheric astrolabe made for Shah Jahan, most probably by Diya’ al-Din Muhammad Lahori" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;uk;Mus21;38;en

MWNF Working Number: UK1 38