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86
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Brass planispheric astrolabe, "Master Muhammad Amîn" worksho…
See original version (French)
86
-
Brass planispheric astrolabe, "Master Muhammad Amîn" worksho…
See original version (French)
Estimate €3,000 - €4,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Brass planispheric astrolabe, "Master Muhammad Amîn" workshop
Iran, late 19th - early 20th century, with apocryphal signature and date
Cast in one piece with the throne, engraved on the front and back with inscriptions in naskh, with a double suspension ring, with chased foliate decoration, the mother engraved on the front and back with the signs of the zodiac, accompanied by five tympana engraved on the front and back, and an apocryphal date of 1121 A.H. (1709/10).
H. 35 cm (13.8 in.) with handle.
Bibliography:
A. Brieux & F. Maddison, Répertoire des facteurs d'astrolabes et de leurs œuvres en terre d'Islam, 2 vols, Paris, 2021: vol. I, p. 270 (note on the workshop known as "Muhammad Amîn"); vol. II, p. 250-253 (four illustrated instruments from the same workshop). The present astrolabe is very similar to the examples reproduced in figures 525 and 526 of this catalogue.
The production of pastiche astrolabes in Iran, India and Egypt at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries was in great demand by European curiosity shops, merchants and amateurs, who were seduced by the prestige of medieval Arab-Islamic astronomy and were often unable to distinguish between imitations. The "Muhammad Amîn workshop" illustrates this orientalist production intended for export.
A planispheric brass astrolabe of the so-called workshop of "Master Muhammad Amin", with apocryphal signature and date, Iran, late 19th - early 20th century.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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