Maghrebian astrolabe, circa 17th century - Lot 52

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  3. Maghrebian astrolabe, circa 17th century - Lot 52
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Lot n° 52
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Estimation :
30000 - 50000 EUR
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Result : 30 000EUR
Maghrebian astrolabe, circa 17th century - Lot 52
Maghrebian astrolabe, circa 17th century Hammered and engraved brass planispheric astrolabe, comprising a mother, a spider, four eardrums including a later one, an alidade, a nail and a key called a horse. The spider is fitted with four large silver nails (mudir) to facilitate the rotation of the spider, and twenty-four smaller silver nails. It is engraved with inscriptions in Maghribi kufic script. It is unsigned and undated. The mother is decorated with a scalloped throne (kursi), surmounted by a belly through which a ring passes. The limb is divided into 360°, divided in 10° intervals, subdivided for every 1°, with the graduations in abjad. The inside of the mother is engraved with rays indicating the place of many cities, including : Marrakech, Tangier, Meknes, Fes, Sijilmassa, Malaga, Tlemcen, Granada, Oran, Bijaia, Kairouan, Tunis, al-Mahdia, Tripoli, Alexandria, Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Mecca, Yatrib (Medina), Askalon, Samarkand, Gurgan, al-Hind (India), al-Sind (Pakistan). The reverse side of the mother is engraved in the upper left quarter with a diagram of unequal hours, and the square of shadows in the lower part. The spider bears the names and positions of 22 stars, 12 inside the ecliptic and 10 outside, indicated by curved or hook-shaped indexes and a small silver nail. The engraving is possibly by a different hand from that of the eardrums. The signs of the zodiac are inscribed on the line of the ecliptic and four silver nails (mudir) are fixed on the spider. The eardrums indicate the position of cities. They are established for: Tympanum 1: Mecca 21°40 and Medina 24° Tympanum 2: Fez 33° and Marrakesh 31°30 Tympanum 3: Cairo (Misr) 30° and li-jami' al-'urud (for all latitudes) Tympanum 4 bears an inscription on one side, the other being plain : li-zawiyat wazzan 'ammaraha allah لزاوية وزان عمرها الله "For the Sufi Shrine (zawiya) of Ouezzane,
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