17th Century 'Supercomputer' Heads to Auction
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The spectacular brass astrolabe - or a hand-held astronomical computer - was once owned by Indian royalty.
Astrolabes are metallic disks with multi-layered, interlocking components that were historically used to tell the time, map the stars, the direction of Mecca and the motion of the sky.
"They are essentially a two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional universe. I compare them to modern-day smartphones because you can do so many things with them," says Dr Federica Gigante of the Oxford Centre for History of Science, Medicine and Technology. "You can calculate the time of sunset, sunrise, the height of a building, the depth of a well, distance and even use them to predict the future. Along with an almanac they were once used to cast horoscopes."
This particular astrolabe is "perhaps the largest in existence" and has never been exhibited before, Sotheby's told the BBC. Known to be part of the royal collection of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur, it was passed on to his wife Maharani Gayatri Devi, one of the most glamorous women of her time, after his death. It then moved to a private collection during her lifetime.
Astrolabes were first developed in ancient Greece in the 2nd Century BCE and spread to the Islamic world by the 8th Century. Over the following centuries, centres of production flourished across Iraq, Iran, North Africa and al-Andalus (in present-day Spain).
This particular instrument was made in the early 17th Century in Lahore, now in Pakistan, at a time when the city had become a leading hub of astrolabe-making in the Mughal world. "It weighs 8.2kg, measures nearly 30cm in diameter and stands about 46cm tall - almost four times the size of a typical astrolabe from 17th Century India," say Sotheby's.
The auction house says the piece's pristine condition and royal provenance is expected to attract keen interest from museums and collectors, with the piece coming to the market at an estimate of £1.5m to £2.5m ($2m to $3.4m).