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Fusoris-type planispheric astrolabe

The astrolabe was a multi-purpose tool, which served as a sky map, timepiece, astronomical computer, navigational aid, and surveying instrument. It was invented sometime before the fourth century CE, although the mathematics that underlies it was known in Greek circles 400 years earlier. Manufacture was first centered between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and then carried throughout the world by Muslim and Christian scholars. Astrolabes were expensive to own and complex to use. Wealthy aristocrats sometimes owned them as status symbols demonstrating their education, refinement, and power.

This particular astrolabe is a puzzle. At first it appears to have been made in the Paris workshop of Jean Fusoris, circa 1400, but forensic work shows that it was made no earlier than the late 16th century. Is it a Renaissance counterfeit or a reproduction for an admirer of Fusoris? Another unusual feature is the single, silver tympan inscribed for 34°. This is the latitude of Fez and Rabat (Morocco), Sultanabad (Iran), and Herat (Afghanistan). This indicates that the owner wanted to use it in the Islamic / Arabic world.


Inv Number: DW0594
Date: second half of 16th century?
Maker: French

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