Astrolabe quadrant, engraved brass
Syria, Damascus; 730 H = 1329-1330
H: 15.5 cm
“Made by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mizzi for Sulayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sulayman in Damascus in the year 730” is written in Kufi script, which was often used on astronomical instruments after Kufi had otherwise gone out of fashion. Al-Mizzi, who died in 1350, was an astronomer and muwaqqit (official timekeeper) at the Great Mosque in Damascus, and a total of five quadrants made by him have been preserved. Sulayman has not been identified.
A quadrant is in principle a quarter of an astrolabe, and was used to measure the height of certain stars at a specific latitude (here 33º30’ for Damascus). It could consequently be used for such things as determining the time – and the time of prayer.
Inv. no. 16/1988
Published in:
Géza Fehérvári: “An Eighth/Fourteenth-century Quadrant of the Astrolabist al-Mizzî,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 36:1, 1973, pp. 115-117, pl. 1-2;
Sotheby’s, London 13/4 1988, lot 267;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic Art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat. 362;
Syrie. Mémoire et civilisation, Institut du monde arabe, Paris 1993, p. 438, cat. 333;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (ed.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal. The History and Culture of the Islamic World, National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat. 78;
Francis Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith: Science, Tools & Magic, London 1997, pp. 226-267, note 9;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in the David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat. 595;
Rafael Valencia Rodríguez et al.: Ibn Khaldun. The Mediterranean in the 14th Century, Rise and Fall of Empires, Fundación El Legado Andalusi, Granada 2006, pp. 48-49;
Andrea Gropp and Werner Pöhling (ed.): Häuser der Weisheit. Wissenschaft im goldenen Zeitalter des Islam, Kultur- und Stadthistorisches Museum Duisburg, Mainz am Rhein 2015, fig. 8, p. 12;
Lærke Rydal Jørgensen and Marie Laurberg (ed.): Månen. Fra den indre verden til det ydre rum, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2018, pp. 80-81, cat. 2;
Stig T. Rasmussen: Klassisk arabisk litteratur i oversættelse til dansk. En litteraturhistorisk vejvisende antologi, Copenhagen 2018, p. 159;
Joachim Meyer, Rasmus Bech Olsen and Peter Wandel: Beyond Words. Calligraphy from the World of Islam, Davids Samling, Copenhagen 2024, pp. 130-131, cat.10;
Carine Juvin (ed.): Mamlouks: 1250-1517, Musée du Louvre, Paris 2025, fig. 106, p. 150 og p. 343, cat. 106;
Carine Juvin (ed.): Mamluks. Legacy of an empire, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Paris 2025, p. 250, check list;
