AN INDIAN SILVER AND COPPER INLAID CELESTIAL GLOBE India, most...
AN INDIAN SILVER AND COPPER INLAID CELESTIAL GLOBE
India, most possibly Mughal, late 18th-early 19th century
Seamless lost-wax cast bronze globe, engraved with silver and copper-inlaid stars, the constellations labelled in Arabic in a jagged script, with the equator graduated in a Brahmic script.
14cm high, 18cm including stand
Mughal examples were traditionally made in workshops in Lahore and were usually engraved with figural representations of constellations and zodiacal signs, labelled in Arabic or Persian, but there are also attested examples, mostly dated to the first half of the 19th century, labelled in the Sanskrit alphanumeric notation known as Kaṭapayādi, as a parallel to the practice of using the Arabic alphanumeric system abjad (for a well-known example, see the Sanskrit celestial globe signed by Bulhomal, dated 1839, in Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma, Lālah Bulhomal Lāhorī and the Production of Traditional Astronomical Instruments at Lahore in the Nineteenth Century, Indian Journal of History of Science, 50.2 (2015), pp. 259–305, p. 275). The celestial globe as a scientific instrument ultimately derives from the Greco-Hellenistic tradition, but it was incorporated and substantially reworked within the Sanskrit astronomical tradition, where spherical instruments (gola-yantra) formed part of the indigenous jyotiṣa tradition.
The desire to foresee the future through astrology and divination was widespread throughout the Islamic world. Astrologers employed sophisticated instruments, including celestial globes and astrolabes, to interpret the stars and determine auspicious times for particular activities. Their calculations were compiled into tables indicating favourable moments for undertaking specific actions, such as purchasing a house or embarking on a journey.
Literature:
Savage-Smith, E., Islamicate Celestial Globes. Their History, Construction and Use, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Provenance:
Property of a private collector.
Purchased in the the Netherlands in 1990.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
AN INDIAN SILVER AND COPPER INLAID CELESTIAL GLOBE
India, most possibly Mughal, late 18th-early 19th century
Seamless lost-wax cast bronze globe, engraved with silver and copper-inlaid stars, the constellations labelled in Arabic in a jagged script, with the equator graduated in a Brahmic script.
14cm high, 18cm including stand
Mughal examples were traditionally made in workshops in Lahore and were usually engraved with figural representations of constellations and zodiacal signs, labelled in Arabic or Persian, but there are also attested examples, mostly dated to the first half of the 19th century, labelled in the Sanskrit alphanumeric notation known as Kaṭapayādi, as a parallel to the practice of using the Arabic alphanumeric system abjad (for a well-known example, see the Sanskrit celestial globe signed by Bulhomal, dated 1839, in Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma, Lālah Bulhomal Lāhorī and the Production of Traditional Astronomical Instruments at Lahore in the Nineteenth Century, Indian Journal of History of Science, 50.2 (2015), pp. 259–305, p. 275). The celestial globe as a scientific instrument ultimately derives from the Greco-Hellenistic tradition, but it was incorporated and substantially reworked within the Sanskrit astronomical tradition, where spherical instruments (gola-yantra) formed part of the indigenous jyotiṣa tradition.
The desire to foresee the future through astrology and divination was widespread throughout the Islamic world. Astrologers employed sophisticated instruments, including celestial globes and astrolabes, to interpret the stars and determine auspicious times for particular activities. Their calculations were compiled into tables indicating favourable moments for undertaking specific actions, such as purchasing a house or embarking on a journey.
Literature:
Savage-Smith, E., Islamicate Celestial Globes. Their History, Construction and Use, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Provenance:
Property of a private collector.
Purchased in the the Netherlands in 1990.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
