Accession No

5180

Brief Description

8-inch celestial astrologer’s globe, in brass, inscribed in a mixture of Persian, Arabic and Urdu, Indian, 19th century

Origin

India, north-central (possibly Lahore, in what is now Pakistan)

Maker

Class

astronomy

Earliest Date

1800

Latest Date

1900

Inscription Date

Material

metal (High Zinc Brass)

Dimensions

diameter 199mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Trevor Philip & Sons, 75A Jermyn Street, St James, London, England, in 08/1997.Purchase part-funded by a grant from the PRISM fund (Science Museum).

Inscription

Description Notes

8-inch celestial astrologer’s globe, in brass, Indian, 19th century.

Celestial Globe inscribed in a mixture of Persian, Arabic and Urdu, made somewhere around north central India. Made of High zinc brass. Engraved with astronomical / astrological information. Inscribed with twelve equally spaced meridians. Each hemisphere is incised with twelve gore-shaped panels converging at the “pole”. At each pole there is a circular medallion with a calligraphic inscription, one reading “The Sphere of the Stars” and the other “The Essence of the Zodiac and the Heavens”. The gores are divided into twelve rings in which astrological information is engraved. Each v-shaped “gore” in a hemisphere is devoted to one zodiacal house and contains material associated with that house. Beginning at the narrowest part of the panel, there are letters of the alphabet associated with it; then the seasons of the year and the amount of daylight; unlucky days of the month; the number of days the sun resides in that house; associated temperaments; dejections of the planets and stability of the sign; exaltations and detriments of the planets; associated lunar mansions; elements, directions of the compass, colours, sex, and nocturnal or diurnal attributes; names of angels; the name of the zodiacal house, with the associated planet; and (at the bottom edge) the Urdu names of associated lunar mansions. A wide graduated band has been raised where the two hemispheres are joined together. The information incised on each of the two hemispheres is identical, so that the astrologer can use the sphere either way up.
Small embossed figures are used to represent the zodiacal constellations. Gemini is represented by two male musicians. Virgo by a woman sitting in a boat and holding a dish containing a steaming or burning substance.

Condition good; complete.

References

Joshua Nall; ‘Local Knowledge’; Explore Whipple Collections online article; Whipple Museum of the History of Science; University of Cambridge; 2020: https://www.whipplemuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-whipple-collections/astronomy-and-empire/local-knowledge

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