Page 216 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

locum I quam per austrum. juxta diverses effec- c[o]elum re vat eius rege[n]s motu[m]). On The tapestry combines various iconographical
tus I diversis aptantur figuris hominum I et the right is Philosophy with Geometry and Arith- traditions. The general formula is that of the
alteris signis et planetis motum I circulus conser- metic (aritmetica) at her feet. On her left is Abra- wheel of Fortune turned with a crank, while the
vat sub se zodiacus.) ham (Abram) and above him Virgil (Virgilius), heavenly spheres are shown as an astrolabe, with
On the left, God himself is shown, identified as while Astrology (astrologia), who is next to the the constellations depicted according to their tra-
the power of the prime mover (potentia primi sphere, points with her finger to the heavens. ditional form.
motoris). The personification holding the mother This scene, too, is explained by a Latin text also This is probably one of the tapestries men-
of the astrolabe supported by the kneeling Atlas written on a scroll: 'Abraham understood tioned in a Toledo Cathedral document of 1503;
(Athlas) stands for the agility of the world through Philosophy and through Wisdom these this records three large tapestries with the story
(agilitas mobilis). These figures are explained in facts of Astrology of which the poet Virgil speaks. of Saul and David, but also three French astrolog-
another Latin inscription: "The poets say when Many other men now have this knowledge. The ical tapestries which were bought by Diego Lopez
the angel acts under the power of the prime mathematics [of it] is explained through Geome- de Ayala with money from the Marques de Pliego
mover the world is made fit for this by its own try and Arithmetic/' (Abrachis co[n]gnovit per ("Otros quatro panos franceses de la historia del
agility [and?] the sky revolves controlling its [the philosophiam I h[a]ec astrologie et per scientiam rey Saul y del rey David y tres panos grandes
world's] motion/' [An[gelo?] sub potentia primi I under virgilius poeta loquitur I alij quam plures franceses de astrologia que mando comprar el
motoris agente I mentum /recte mundum] ad hoc et hanc notitiam /jam habe[n]t homines per geo- senor Diego Lopez de Ayala de la almoneda que se
,..aptu[m] sua esse agilitate I dicunt poetae in metria[m] I et aritmeticam numerus panditur). hizo en Toledo del marquez de Pliego"). In 1541
they are recorded as "three old astrological tap-
estries," one of them depicting what was probably
an allegory of death ("Numero tres, tres panos
viejos de astrologia que uno dellos es historia de la
muerte"). J.M.M.

112
ASTROLABE

1235-1236
Egypt or Syria
brass inlaid with copper and silver
1
height 39.4 (if /*); diameter 33 (13)
c
c
inscribed: (engraved) sana hu Abd al-Karim
al-Misri al-usturlabi; (underneath in lighter
c
characters) bi-Misr al-Maliki al-Ashrafi al-Mu izzI
al-Shihabi (dated abjad in letters) fi sanat KhLJ
al-hijriyya (that is, 633/1235-1236)
references: Hartner 1939 3:2, 530—2, 554 (reprinted
in 1968, 287—311; Mayer 1956, 29-30; Barrett 1949
19 ff; van Berchem 1978, 3:1814—1815; 1941,
no. 4080
The Trustees of the British Museum, London

The astrolabe, the most important astronomical
instrument of the Middle Ages, was designed to
measure the altitude of the stars, moon, or sun
without any mathematical calculation. It was used
in much the same way as the astronomical quad-
rant or sextant, but in addition it bore various
diagrams or scales which made it possible to
determine immediately the positions of the sun,
moon, and planets — most significant, the earth —
in relation to the fixed stars (see cat. 121).
The instrument consists of a ring for suspen-
sion and a cast body, the umm or mater, into
which fit a series of detachable plates for different
latitudes, each with a stereographic projection of
the heavens. Over the latitude plates rotates the
c
openwork rete (Arabic ankabut, "spider") with a
stereographic projection of the fixed stars on the
plane of the equator. The revolution of the rete
demonstrates the swing of the courses of the fixed

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 215