A 16th-Century Astrolabe Positioned Under a Lucky Star

Published on 27 January 2023, by Anne Doridou-Heim

Auction on 10 February 2023 - 14:00 (CET) - Salle 4 - Hôtel Drouot - 75009

This astrolabe weaves its golden thread on the roads of Renaissance Europe and expands the very limited corpus of Michael Piquer's instruments. The winds should be favorable.

European gilt brass astrolabe attributed to Michael Piquer, dated 1543, diam. 19.1... A 16th-Century Astrolabe Positioned Under a Lucky Star

European gilt brass astrolabe attributed to Michael Piquer, dated 1543, diam. 19.1 cm/7.5 in, h. 21.3 cm/ 8.3 in (without ring), thickness: 0.9 cm/0.35 in.
Estimate: €80,000/100,000

A rete, mater, plate, limb, womb, alidade, throne... but what are these things exactly? In fact, it is the vocabulary used by scientists to define the elements of an astrolabe, a calculating instrument invented by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the 2nd century BCE, to establish the relationship between the position of the stars and time. Perfected in the deserts by the Arabs who, for their religion,…

This article is for subscribers only

You still have 85% left to read.

To discover more, Subscribe