An Astrolabe by Hajji 'Ali, Persia, Dated A.H. 1212/A.D. 1797-1798

patination, horse and possibly alidade are replacements, overall good, as viewed
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inscriptions
Signed as:  'Hajji 'Ali made it. 1212 (A.D. 1797-1798)'

This charming little astrolabe is typical of Hajji 'Ali's productions. It is thought that he worked in Isfahan about 150 years after the instrument school there had reached its zenith, but we have no information about the milieu in which he himself worked. What is remarkable is that his instruments display the same elegance and precision as the smaller instruments of the earlier Isfahan school. Close to 20 astrolabes are known from his hand, all virtually identical to this one.

The throne and the rete are decorated with floral patterns. The latter bears pointers for about 30 stars. The mater is engraved with a gazetteer giving longitude, latitude and qibla values for 34 cities mainly in Greater Iran. The plates have altitude circles for each 6° of argument, and azimuth circles for each 10°. They serve latitudes 29°, 30°, 32°, 34°, 36°, 37°, 38°, and horizons for each 3°. The back bears a sine quadrant in the upper left, a solar quadrant in the upper right, with curves for Shiraz, Baghdad, Isfahan and Tus. Below the horizontal diameter there are scales for the lunar mansions and for the astrological "limits" and "faces" (hudud and wujuh) of the zodiacal signs. Within these is a double shadow-square, under which is the statement sana'ahu Hajji 'Ali, "made by Hajji 'Ali". At the bottom of the back is the verse from the Gulistan of Sa'di: "The purpose of this engraving is that it should survive us."

Bibliography: Mayer, Islamic Astrolabists, p. 39; King, World-Maps Centred on Mecca, pp. 149-186 (on the gazetteers found on late Iranian astrolabes); King, In Synchrony with the Heavens, XIIIa (on astrolabes as historical sources).